The Colour In My Life
by Kerd151
Summary: "The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves" -Victor Hugo. This is my version of Remus and Tonks' story from the first moment they met. Will be from both Tonks' and Remus' point of view and will start from the OoTP. Please R&R :)
1. Chapter 1: First Meetings

**Chapter One: First Meetings**

**_A/N: Okay, so I've been working on this story for a few weeks and decided to upload the first chapter today since it's my birthday! It's only my second fanfic, and the first that will grow to be a decent length. Anyways, it will be written the first chapter in Tonks point of view, the next in Remus' and so on. I can't promise it will be 100% canon. Hope you enjoy and please take a minute to review, Thanks! [Recently edited, 24/05/2013 – This is just to remind myself, haha!]._**

_Tonks POV_

Tonks stood outside _Number 12 Grimmauld Place_ shifting her feet from side to side. Her heart was beating fast in her chest; her hair trapped in a mousy brown and her eyes a dull grey. There was something that felt strange about her appearance and the slight tremble that ran through her entire body told her why she couldn't seem to keep her morph today. Tonks ran her fingers through her hair, scrunching her face as she examined it's colour with distaste.

Sirius Black… She felt her hand reach the doorbell almost desperately. There was no denying the urge she felt to see her cousin, whom she had vivid, happy memories of. But when she thought of how he'd been imprisoned for so long, she realised he would never be the same carefree boy she remembered from her childhood. Tonks dropped her arm and let it lie limp by her side as her heart beat faster in anticipation. Biting her bottom lip hard, she raised her hand again to the doorbell and this time, pressed it hard.

As the doorbell chime ceased, Tonks heard hurried footsteps approach the door and a woman screeching incoherently made Tonks take a backward step and hold her breath in expectation. A dark haired man opened the door hastily before swiftly turning around with his wand pointed in the direction of the screeches, leaving Tonks craning her neck trying to get a glimpse of him.

"Tainted blood of my blood! Shape shifting freak! Spawn of mudblood filth!"

Loud, vulgar screeches made Tonks gasp and she took a step forward, trying to catch sight of the source of the screeching. Wide-eyed, she stared at the life-sized portrait of a woman. Through the dim light, she made out that the woman's face was contorted with fury, her eyes were wide and she looked manic and wild, yet strangely familiar. Even as she cringed inwardly at the screeching, she noticed the wild black hair which surrounded the woman's terrifying face was trademark Black hair, similar to her own mother's. As Tonks noticed the resemblance, she breathed in a sharp and shaky breath, allowing herself to take in the similarities and adjust to them.

"Oh shut the hell up mother!" the dark-haired man bellowed and Tonks turned her head quickly towards him. He grabbed the drapes which surrounded the portrait tightly, his knuckles white with the force of his grip. With huge effort on his part, he successfully closed the drapes and the hideous woman was hidden from sight. He breathed a sigh of relief as the hallway was rendered silent. Tonks stared at the curtains which had silenced the portrait. Realising she was standing as stiffly as a statue, she turned her gaze towards her cousin who seemed to be observing her with undue hesitation. Tonks paced towards him slowly.

"Hi, Sirius" Her voice sounded shaky and hoarse, even to her own ears. Her breathing quickened as she properly observed her cousin for the first time in over twelve years. She watched as his grey eyes, which had been dancing around the room with anxiety, became steady and brightened as he watched her. He walked towards her slowly, taking deliberate, small steps.

As he reached her, he hesitated slightly before gently putting his arms around her. She returned the hug, gripping him tightly and revelling in his warmth.

"Hey, Nymphadora," Sirius said softly, his voice croaked with emotion as he tightened his grip around her. They stood perfectly still as they held one another, as if the slightest movement would ruin the tenderness of the reunion. For the first time, she noticed how thin he was as her hands felt his spine protrude from his back and his ribs stuck out from his sides, digging in to her arms as they embraced. Tonks let him go and felt her breathing become steadier and her heart beat slowed.

"Sorry about my mother, she insults just about everyone who walks through the door and I can't get the bloody thing down" he said quickly, momentarily looking in disgust at the drapes which hid the portrait of Mrs Black. He paced from side to side as he spoke and she noticed his skin was pulled tight over his cheekbones and jaw and the clothes he wore hung off him loosely. His dark hair was in contrast to his skin, which was so pale, as if he hadn't seen sunlight in a long while, which she supposed was probably true. She took in his appearance and had the urge to hug him again, but restrained as she didn't want to come across as over-emotional.

Realising the portrait was Walburga Black, Sirius' mother; she looked at him appraisingly and compared him to the portrait. The woman in the portrait looked just like Sirius, with their shared black hair and dark eyes with sharp aristocratic features yet Sirius had warmth in his eyes which seemed to set him apart immensely from his mother.

"Don't call me Nymphadora" she told him playfully as she mock-glared at him. At the remembrance of her favourite phrase, he grinned widely at her and she smiled as she was suddenly reminded of the Sirius she'd known from childhood.

"Of course, of course, _Tonks_, aren't you early? I thought the meeting was at six." Sirius looked at her questioningly and she felt her face flush slightly.

"I thought I'd come see you before the meeting" she said with an air of uncertainty.

"Brilliant" beamed Sirius and she felt herself relax further. "Let's go to the kitchen. That's where we hold the Order meetings" He told her and she followed him through the hallway, not failing to notice a distinct smell of neglect. The smell filled the hallway and irritated her nostrils like an abundance of dust in the air. The dim light of the place added to the overall intimidating feel of it.

As they moved forward, Tonks almost shuddered when she observed a row of decapitated house-elf heads mounted on the wall; their huge yellow eyes seemed to glare horrifically at her as she hurried past them. She shivered as she suddenly felt the coldness in the air. The house had very obviously not been lived in for a while as years of dust and grime stuck to the neglected ornaments and furniture. As they neared a door, she also noticed that the brass door-knobs were shaped as serpent-heads, representative of the house's former occupants. Everything about the house acutely and disturbingly reminded Tonks of the Black family. She shivered involuntarily before catching a glimpse of the kitchen.

"Who's your mother insulting now?" added a slightly-perplexed sounding voice from inside the kitchen and both Tonks and Sirius entered the kitchen. Unlike the hallway, light saturated every crevice of the kitchen and there was warmth in the air like the heat from an oven which made Tonks relax almost immediately. She soon found the owner of the perplexed voice. There was a man seated opposite the door at the long wooden table in the kitchen and he observed them curiously through startling blue eyes. His eyes were a beautiful colour, Tonks thought; dark blue and deep, like the depths of the ocean. She made a note of their distinctive colour in case she wished to morph them on to her own eyes.

"Oh, this is my best mate Remus Lupin. Remus, this is my cousin Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her _surname_ only," Sirius said pointedly. He sat in the seat beside Remus Lupin and visibly relaxed as he slumped forward on his seat. Tonks sat opposite them both and suddenly realised something about the other man.

His name… Remus Lupin was familiar. She racked her brains but couldn't seem to think of where she'd come across his name before. Although she eventually concluded that she must have heard it from Sirius when he was younger, she wasn't entirely convinced.

"Nice to meet you, Nymph...erm... Tonks" Remus said, holding his hand out for her to shake. He couldn't seem to maintain eye contact with her and she thought he seemed rather hesitant.

"And you, Remus" His hand felt coarse as she shook it carefully. He gave her a small smile which she returned happily. Remus ran his fingers through his sandy brown hair and it was only then that she noticed with curiosity, a deep scar on the side of his face. It ran down his jawline, the skin was a raised dark pink rather than red, indicating that it was by no means a new wound. He looked at her and stood up abruptly from the table, almost as if noticing her curiosity and offered them both drinks. She also noticed that Remus' clothes were well-worn, patched up in some places, fraying in others.

"Coffee with Firewhiskey would be lovely, Moony" Sirius grinned mischievously at Remus, who rolled his eyes in response.

"Tonks?" Remus offered, looking towards her patiently.

"Um, hot chocolate would be brilliant if you have any" she said quickly. "I definitely need some sugar" she added.

"Well Tonks you've come to the right place then" Sirius said smugly, "Remus here has a slight chocolate addiction, there's never any shortage of sugar here" he added whilst both him and Remus laughed. Tonks welcomed the scents of the brewing drinks; chocolate, coffee, tea, firewhiskey… all combined to create a sweet, soothing aroma in the air, which almost made her want to curl up and sleep. After a minute or so, Remus brought over the drinks. She placed her hands over the mug, revelling in the heat which warmed up her hands considerably. Tonks took a sip of the drink and savoured the taste of sweet chocolate on her tongue, the warmth of the liquid spreading to every part of her body as she kept drinking.

"So anyway Tonks, what've you been up to the past um… twelve years?" Sirius asked her, his eyebrows furrowed together in thought. "I hear you're an Auror now, Mad-Eye Moody's little protégée" he added, raising his eyebrows playfully at her.

For the first time that day, Tonks laughed out loud. Feeling the tension in her body begin to ease as the chocolate soothed her and the company relaxed her, she managed to morph her hair easily in to her favourite shade of bright pink, much to the surprise of Remus who suddenly stared at her with his eyes wide. Tonks laughed at his expression and spurred on by this, she turned her face in to an exact replica of his.

"W-what! But h-how are you doing that?!" Remus said to her, his eyebrows furrowed together and his eyes still wide. This immediately caused Sirius to burst in to fits of laughter and Tonks couldn't help but smile before she also began laughing uncontrollably at the sheer expression of shock on Remus' face. As she laughed, she also lost her morph, though she was too caught up in the fun of it all to care much about it.

"I-I'm a-a _metamorphmagus_" Tonks eventually spluttered between fits of giggles. Remus's face dawned in comprehension and he chuckled with her as she proudly turned her nose into a duck's beak, a pig's snout and finally a cat's nose.

"Show-off!" laughed Sirius as Tonks changed her face to his. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"That really is amazing!" remarked Remus, an amused smile played on his lips yet his eyes gazed at her in awe.

"Really? But Auntie Walburga reckons I'm a shape-shifting freak" said Tonks petulantly, morphing her face in to an exact replica of the dreadful portrait of Sirius' mother.

"Now that is just creepy!" stated Sirius, though he couldn't seem to stop himself from laughing even harder anyway.

"Well it definitely has its advantages, brilliant for the Concealment and Disguise part of the Auror exam" Tonks told them honestly.

"Yeah, but how _you _of all people managed to pass Stealth and Tracking, I will never know. Reckon Mad-eye let you away with that one."

"Thanks for the support, Sirius. I'm not _that_ clumsy you know!" she said as she hit him in the arm playfully. Sirius scoffed and laughed at her and the conversation between the three of them continued to flow without hesitation. The time seemed to flow extremely quickly and by the time the Order members arrived two hours later, she was wondering where the time had went.

Seeing Sirius smiling and laughing made Tonks grin as if she'd won five-hundred galleons. Although it was obvious Azkaban had taken its toll on him, it was equally obvious that some part of the Sirius she remembered from childhood remained. Remus Lupin seemed nice as well, she thought. He seemed to be amazed rather than freaked out by her Metamorphosing ability which was rare in itself. She also saw how he helped Sirius recover and that made her first impressions of him even stronger.


	2. Chapter 2: Order of the Phoenix

**Chapter Two: Order of the Phoenix**

**_A/N: Happy New Year everyone! This is the second chapter and is from Remus' point of view. Hope you enjoy and virtual hugs will be given to those who follow/favourite/review. Thanks! [Recently edited 24/05/13]_**

_Remus POV_

Looking around the room as Order members began filing in, the gentle buzz of conversation in the air, Remus turned his gaze to Sirius' cousin, Nymphadora Tonks. They had met exactly two hours ago yet she had left him with a distinct impression of her. Although she hadn't said much at first and her hand was trembling slightly as he shook it, she recovered quickly and he saw a glimpse of what she was really like. Her hair had turned a bright shade of pink which seemed to mirror her smile. She seemed to spend a lot of time smiling and laughing and he'd noticed Sirius was smiling more around her than he had in the past month. Unexpectedly, he found that her presence brought a smile to his day as well. As he pondered the pink-haired witch, his thoughts were interrupted by Dumbledore clearing his throat, signalling the beginning of the Order meeting.

Dumbledore firstly introduced Tonks to the group and spoke highly of her abilities as an Auror, which made her eyes widen and both her hair and face turned a hilarious tomato red. This was met by widened eyes and gasps at the table and Remus bit his lip to stop himself from laughing out loud. Remus tried to focus as each member then reported back any important information to the group but found his mind wandering as he tapped the wood of the table with his nails, creating a quiet yet rhythmic sound that seemed a better alternative to the meeting. He knew in several months he would yearn for these boring meetings, meetings that weren't yet centred on who was missing or dead. He briefly wondered which of the witches and wizards sat round the long wooden table would still be here when this was all over. He exhaled slowly as he shook the sullen thoughts from his mind.

As the meeting was concluded, pieces of parchment were handed around to each member and Remus saw that, as usual, it contained his slots for guard duty at the Ministry and the protection of Harry Potter for the next month, written in Dumbledore's neat script. His eyes widened and he allowed himself a small smile when he observed that he would be watching over Harry with Tonks for the second, third and fourth week of this month. A painful throbbing in his head and an ache which seemed to reach every bone of his body like a horrific toothache reminded him of the reason why he was spared duties this week.

Remus glanced around the room. Molly was making sure everyone was well fed, carefully placing plates full of sandwiches and snacks of every kind on the table. Tonks seemed to be getting on well with everyone, laughter bellowing throughout the room as she morphed her face in to perfect replicas of the Order Members. As he continued observing the activity in the room, he found Sn-Severous and Sirius glaring at each other menacingly and he inwardly groaned at the familiar scene.

"Moony?" asked Sirius, a hateful glare on his face as he growled at his childhood enemy.

"Yes, Padfoot?" Remus replied carefully as he evaluated the scene before him.

"Can I murder Snivellous?" A glint of yearning was in his eyes and Remus laughed uneasily.

"No, Sirius" he replied and rolled his eyes.

"Why not?" Sirius' face fell.

"Because he's the only one here who can brew Wolfsbane" Remus replied, his answer making Sirius sigh in mock-defeat.

"Oh right… Ugh, fine."

Most of the Order members had left when Snape handed Remus a goblet which contained the Wolfsbane potion which emitted the stench of Aconite throughout the room. The potion smelled like extremely bitter herbs mixed with sour milk. He scrunched up his face at the potion which exuded a faint blue smoke, which although was sparse, seemed to make the air around him thicken. He had never tasted anything worse than the Wolfsbane potion but there was nothing that he clung to so desperately than the Wolfsbane potion. In all honesty, it made him feel _human._ Snape gave him a snarling look, before billowing out of Grimmauld Place as quickly as he possibly could. The remaining Order members, Emmeline Vance and Kingsley Shacklebolt left just behind Snape. Tonks also got up to leave but Sirius hurriedly shouted her back.

"Hey, Tonks! Where'd you think you're going?" She turned around and looked at him with her eyebrows furrowed together.

"Um, home?" Tonks replied as she raised her eyebrows.

"No, don't go home! You can stay here tonight, to spend some time with your long lost cousin" Sirius said, putting on his most pathetic face, causing Remus to roll his eyes and Tonks to laugh out loud.

"Okay then, Sirius" she laughed, sitting down again at the table as Remus gulped down the sickening Wolfsbane potion, wincing as he swallowed it. Tonks looked over at him; her eyebrows were furrowed together as she observed the goblet and a smile played on her lips as he scrunched his face up towards it. Suddenly, he predicted her next question and his thoughts raced as he considered how he would answer it. If she discovered that he was in fact, a werewolf, the most likely outcome would be that she'd leave. As he pondered this, Tonks spoke.

"That doesn't look very pleasant." Tonks raised her eyebrows at him.

"Unfortunately adding sugar renders it completely useless" Remus sighed. He averted her gaze as she continued to look between him and the potion curiously. Sirius watched their exchange in silent interest, a rarity from Sirius Black.

"What is it?"

"Wolfsbane" He told her quickly, refusing to meet her eyes. Glancing at a mark on the wooden table, he decided he wasn't quite sure that he'd want to see her reaction to this.

"What?" He looked up at her. She seemed to be momentarily confused by his statement.

"It's Wolfsbane" he repeated. "I'm a werewolf" he added in a small voice and this time, he forced himself to look at her, to analyse her thoughts, to determine her reaction. Tonks eyes were distant in thought before she spoke again.

"Oh okay that explains it." She said simply. He looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed together. "I mean how I know your name" she said quickly as she realised his confusion. "When Sirius introduced me to you, I thought I knew your name from somewhere, and I was just thinking that explains where I know your name from: the Registry" she said. Her dark eyes were lost in thought.

A nod was all he could muster up to respond to this, realising that as an Auror, Tonks had access to such 'confidential' databases. Sirius continued drinking coffee, choosing not to partake in their exchange. Remus looked towards Tonks, finding himself biting the inside of his cheek as he awaited her next words.

"So _that's_ why I'm with Mundungus for duty this week" she said, her face dawning in comprehension.

"Yes" he replied tersely.

"And Snape makes it for you?" Her face did not contort with disgust and she did not look at him with contempt. She didn't even look scared or look to the door before making excuses to leave. She simply looked at him with an air of innocent curiosity in her expression.

"Yes" he repeated, keeping his face expressionless. He looked at her closely as he attempted to evaluate her reaction. Again, her eyes were distant in thought; she had remained remarkably calm thus far but he was sure this was because it hadn't quite sunk in what he was yet. And he waited with bated breath until she realised what he was… a werewolf. Most people considered him a dark creature and there was no reason why she wouldn't think the same. This definitely led him to question why she really _wasn't_ acting the same…

"And you're absolutely sure he's not slowly poisoning you to death?" she asked with one eyebrow raised and a serious look in her eyes. "I mean, no offence but he does seem the type" she added with a smile tugging at her lips.

The atmosphere seemed to immediately lighten in the room and caused Sirius to howl in laughter whilst Remus hesitated before giving a small smile. He was still nervously awaiting Tonks' reaction.

"Snivellous wouldn't do that, he knows I'd kill him first. It's a pity Remus needs him for Wolfsbane or I might have already murdered him" Sirius suddenly stated, looking up at the ceiling in a dreamlike state, as if fantasizing about killing Snape. Tonks laughed and agreed fervently with Sirius. They began speaking about their shared hatred of Snape, whilst Remus looked between them with his eyes wide and his eyebrows furrowed together. He'd expected more of a reaction from Tonks, though it didn't seem to faze her in the slightest that she was sitting opposite a monster…

As a growl emitted itself from upstairs, Sirius excused himself to feed Buckbeak, picking up a bag of raw meat as he left.

"Buckbeak?" Tonks questioned with an inquisitive expression on her heart-shaped face.

"Sirius' pet hippogriff' Remus explained matter-of-factly.

"Sirius keeps a hippogriff as a pet?" Tonks raised her eyebrows and suddenly grinned.

"Yes, well he also hangs out with a werewolf, so I guess he's really not that fazed by a hippogriff" Remus answered, looking at the now-purple haired witch with increasing curiosity.

Tonks laughed and continued drinking her butterbeer absentmindedly whilst Remus stared at her intently, still awaiting an appropriate reaction to finding out you were sitting in the same room as a dark creature. He was used to people reacting in many different ways, some would outright despise him, and most would avoid him as much as humanly possible. He understood why, of course. He was a dark creature, he was an outcast, a monster and most importantly, he was dangerous. The Order of course were supportive of his condition (most members, anyway) but that was because of Dumbledore's protection and most people who weren't in the order would never speak to him, knowing what he was. Her complete lack of reaction therefore came as a surprise to him. Suddenly, a soft voice interrupted his rather gloomy thoughts;

"Remus?" Tonks looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"Yes?" Remus replied quickly.

"Why are you staring at me?" Tonks asked him with a slight smile on her lips.

"Waiting on a reaction, I guess..." he told her honestly.

"A _reaction?_" she questioned.

"To my being a werewolf I mean, of course." He told her, his heart beating faster; he stared at her as if she'd run out the house as soon as he'd said the word 'werewolf'.

"Erm… Are you okay?" Tonks asked quizzically. She looked rather bewildered and seemed to be searching him for signs of imminent illness. This actually caused Remus to let out a shaky laugh.

"No, Nymphadora. I mean, most people wouldn't want to be anywhere near a werewolf, yet you don't seem bothered" he said truthfully, looking at her in amazement.

"Don't you dare call me Nymphadora, Remus, just when I thought you were alright" she mock sighed, rolling her eyes. "Why should I be bothered?" she added, looking at him strangely, her eyebrows knotted together. He stayed silent for a while, trying to order his thoughts.

"Well, werewolves are dangerous." Remus eventually said and he ran his fingers through his hair, a habit he'd recently obtained.

"Yes but only at the full moon. Besides, Wolfsbane helps with that, right?" Tonks said carefully. Her voice was soft and genuine and he couldn't help but look at her in complete confusion, his eyebrows seemingly permanently furrowed together. He couldn't believe she was actually arguing the case that he was not dangerous. This definitely didn't happen very often.

"Yes, but we're still dangerous creatures." He had no idea why he was trying to convince her of this. He just felt that it was a fact she had to come to terms with, if she really would still speak to him after this. Remus was convincing himself she hadn't grasped what he actually was, though he had no idea why he thought this either.

"But it's not a full moon and therefore your argument is invalid" she smirked at him playfully and he smiled hesitantly. Although she came across as light-hearted, there was a serious note in her voice that told him she was genuine. Her hair was no longer purple but a bright and vibrant pink.

"So you don't care?" he asked her unsurely.

"Of course, I don't, Remus" Tonks rolled her eyes as if it was the easiest question in the world to answer. As if it was a normal occurrence to discover your cousin's best friend was a dark creature. He was taken aback for a moment by this. He was used to the attitude of most of the wizarding world towards werewolves and the reaction when he told people what he was and in all honesty, he'd given up hope for anything else. Since the Marauders, he'd rarely been accepted by anyone else in his adult life. He was prepared for the reactions; disgust, hate, fear, but he wasn't prepared for understanding and light-hearted humour and for her to not care.

"Thank you" he said, feeling that this expression entirely understated what he felt from her acceptance of him.

"You're welcome, for whatever your thanking me for" she laughed. She looked at him thoughtfully.

There was something about Nymphadora Tonks. Something in her carefree laughter drew him to her. Her acceptance of him alone was a gift he very rarely received. Having spent most of his life being shunned and hated for what he was, it was refreshing to be with her.

**_A/N: What did you think? Do you think this was too soon for Tonks to find out? Was her reaction okay? Let me know what you thought!_**


	3. Chapter 3: The Moon Is Not Beautiful

**Chapter Three: The Moon Is Not Beautiful**

**_A/N: Recently edited (24/05/13)_**

Tonks felt like banging her head against a brick wall by the end of the week. There was something innately frustrating about spending an entire week analysing a new lead in trying to find your Azkaban escapee and 'highly dangerous mass murderer' who you knew was safely tucked up in Grimmauld Place. The three-day trip she'd had to make to the outskirts of Canada with Dawlish had made her physically want to vomit. His constant snide remarks and comments that she should be 'grateful' to be given such a dangerous task had her feeling rather contemptuous. Worse than possibly the entire week, however, was spending an entire twelve hours with Mundungus Fletcher.

There was twelve hours of her life wasted listening to Mundungus ramble on about the Order, Diagon Alley, how he acquired rare and brilliant objects and his way of selling said objects to people. It was quite literally tearing her soul apart piece by piece and she was NOT being dramatic. Damn the full moon, damn Remus Lupin for being a werewolf and damn Dumbledore for pairing her with this incessantly irritating man. Even after one hour, Tonks' patience was wearing extremely thin and she answered his questions with a polite smile or a nod or shake of her head, hoping that he would stop talking at some point. Silence would be a much better prospect than this. Not only that, but not once did she see Harry Potter during these twelve hours, seemingly Harry Potter was also safely tucked up in bed whilst she stared monotonously at his house in the vain hope that it would suddenly change colour or shape; anything to relieve the unbearable boredom. Trying to find her inner Hufflepuff patience, Tonks sighed and looked up at the sky. She noticed that the moon was perfectly round and full that night, shining bright in the sky with an eloquent beauty and grace.

Tonks hadn't really thought about the moon before, not really. But now when she looked at the glowing moon, she didn't see the beauty or magnificence of it at all, she saw the curse. Her face scrunched up with disgust. This curse would turn a good, kind man like Remus in to a savage wolf. She didn't actually have a huge amount of knowledge on werewolves, regardless of Auror training. All she'd been taught was that without Wolfsbane, werewolves are extremely dangerous if not kept away from humans to transform. But she had also learned of the pain associated with transformations. It hurt; it hurt almost unbearably for werewolves to transform. There was not only physical pain associated with lycanthropy though, she thought. There was the pain of being an outcast, of people shunning and hating you for something that was not your fault and was beyond your control. For werewolves, the moon was not wonderful or magnificent at all; it was painful, it was hateful and it bore the curse that haunted their very existence.

Suddenly, the thought of Remus Lupin's warm smile entered her mind. She remembered how he'd thanked her the day before and she was struck violently with the injustice of it all. Why should Remus thank anyone for not hating him or for not running away from him because he's a werewolf? As her thoughts drifted towards Remus, she wondered if he was okay. Was he in pain right now? She thought of his captivating yet kind eyes, his mischievous yet warm smile and she sighed deeply. The moon is not beautiful decided Tonks. The moon is not beautiful at all.

Soon the moon was replaced by the sun and Tonks only had dark circles round her eyes to show for it. She was so tired that when she walked in to Grimmauld place at 8am, even Mrs Black's rage at her pink hair and relations to mudbloods did not anger her. Nor did Kreacher's rambling about half-breeds, shape shifters and his "poor mistress". She quickly pulled the drapes over the portrait and glowered at Kreacher, who walked away from her, sulking.

_Woof! Woof!_

Tonks looked up suddenly, her dark eyes confused. She was sure she heard a dog barking from upstairs and just as she thought she was going mad a huge black dog jumped on her, knocking her to the floor and wagging its tail happily. She looked at it in complete and utter shock as it barked again before it promptly changed form in to her idiotic cousin, who was in hysterics at the shock on her face and was seemingly unable to stop himself from laughing. Tonks clumsily pulled herself up from the ground and hit Sirius hard on the arm.

"I forgot you're a bloody Animagus!" Her heart was pounding and she frowned at her cousin. Tonks remembered being told about Sirius' animagus form when Moody told her that Sirius was innocent. He had told her about how Sirius had got past the Dementors of Askaban in the form of his animagus: a huge black dog.

"Indeed I am. I do make a very adorable pet, don't I?" Sirius smirked triumphantly. There was an amusement and arrogance in his voice that made Tonks want to hit him again. She refrained… Just.

"I'm covered in black fur!" she huffed, looking at her white blouse indignantly. Sirius was still smirking but her annoyance soon faded to curiosity. "When did you become an Animagus, Sirius?" she asked him.

"When I was in fifth year at Hogwarts, it was how I escaped from the hell-hole and how I can be with Remus when he's Moony" he grinned proudly.

Tonks shook her head "You're insane, Sirius. Where is Remus anyway? Is he okay?" she asked, suddenly remembering that he had had a much worse night than her and feeling a bit guilty after all her complaining about Mundungus.

"He's in there" Sirius said pointing to the sitting room, "and he's not that great, but he'll be okay" he said, frowning now.

Tonks walked in to the room and found Remus lying on the sofa sleeping, his skin was very pale and dark shadows circled his eyes. He had a cut on his arm but appeared otherwise uninjured. He still looked terribly ill though. Tonks frowned as her thoughts began racing. Would he be okay? How long before he'd be back to normal? When would he wake up? Again, she thought about how the moon affected him and how its beauty became his pain. She sighed deeply, biting on her bottom lip. She sighed and left the room, deciding to let him rest. She joined Sirius for breakfast, though her thoughts kept returning to Remus.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine" Sirius suddenly said, probably upon noticing Tonks' thoughtful expression.

"I know that" she sighed. "Does the Wolfsbane help?" There was a hopeful note to her voice.

"Yes, it makes a huge difference to his transformations; it allows him to keep his mind whilst transformed. He would be a lot more injured without it, believe me, I've seen it. Well that's why I became an animagus." Sirius said this nonchalantly but Tonks realised what he was saying and she looked at him in wonder.

"Really? I didn't know that" Tonks said, looking at Sirius in awe.

"It helped immensely before Wolfsbane was invented, we helped him stay calm." Sirius looked thoughtful.

"And by 'we' you mean?"

"Me, James and Peter. I'm a dog, James was a stag and Peter a rat" his expression darkened when mentioning Peter. "That's how we came up with our Marauder nicknames" he said proudly.

Tonks laughed, thinking how the nicknames had never really made sense to her before. The Marauders: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. She thought, with an air of sadness, about how things had changed so much for these four boys.

"Tonks?" Sirius asked her hesitantly.

"Hmm?" Immersed in thought, she was only half-listening.

"How's Andromeda?" he asked, his eyebrows knotted together. Tonks looked at him quickly, noticing a hopeful expression on his face.

"Oh, um, mum's fine, yeah, why do you ask?"

"Drommie was always my favourite cousin, it would be nice to see her again you know" he said to her pleadingly.

"She said the same thing about you actually" Tonks smiled.

"What? Really?" he said, looking at her with his grey eyes wide.

"Yes, I told her about you, about you being innocent I mean. I probably shouldn't have but I don't regret it, she was so happy. I think she'd love to see you to be honest." Sirius' eyes lit up and he grinned; it was the happiest she'd saw him.

Tonks couldn't help but smile for him. She had remembered the day she told her mother that Sirius was innocent. Strictly speaking, she wasn't supposed to but it was worth it she thought. It made her mum happy and it made Sirius happy. Her mum had listened to her story with tears in her eyes as she remembered her baby cousin, the other "rebel" of the family. She had told Tonks truthfully how much she missed him and how much she had wished he was innocent. Tonks had promised that she would let her Mum see Sirius. She was certain that would be no easy feat, but she was also certain that it would make both her mother and Sirius a lot happier. And really that mattered more to her.

Drawing herself away from these thoughts, Tonks headed to the library. She'd decided earlier, whilst she frantically thought about full moons and transformations, that she didn't know nearly enough about werewolves. She picked up a few rather boring-looking books and sat down to read them. It was warm in this room, the dark carpets and sofa not taking away from the relaxing atmosphere of the place. A few lanterns lit the room in a way which was both comforting yet light enough to read in. She was not impressed, however, when she began reading the books. They all described werewolves as "half-breeds", "dark" and "dangerous" and gave her no more knowledge other than that the Black library was full of horrible, bigoted books. In addition to that, Remus seemed to be the complete opposite of "evil" and "dark, Tonks thought. She sighed and put the books back, looking for one that might tell her something. Books such as "The dangers of associating with Mudbloods" and "The importance of blood purity" caught her eye and she rolled her eyes as she realised there was very little chance of finding a book that explained without prejudice or hate and she went downstairs, feeling annoyed. She shouldn't be surprised really. What other books should she expect to find in the library of "The Most Noble and Ancient House of Black"?

Tonks snorted when she thought of that name and she laughed at the irony. The house of one of the darkest pureblood family was now home to those fighting _against _the dark arts. She returned to the sitting room, and finally began to feel exhaustion creep up on her. She lay down on the other sofa in the sitting room and as tiredness began to overcome her, her eyes closed and she fell peacefully asleep against the fabric.


	4. Chapter 4: After the Moon

**Chapter Four: After the moon**

_Remus POV_

Remus woke just after midday, feeling horribly sluggish and ill, like having a bad flu. His stomach churned and his muscles felt like he had spent the night being stomped on by a giant hippogriff. He was used to this of course but it didn't make him feel much better. As he sat up, he noticed that Tonks was sleeping peacefully on the other sofa; her hair was an adorable chocolate brown and hung below her shoulders. He wondered idly why she was here and why she could even bear to be in the same room as him. He knew that she's accepted him for who he was and he was eternally grateful to her for that. However, being able to see him quite obviously ill from the curse and only the day after he had turned in to a vicious monster without revulsion or fear was something else entirely. Remus sat up and sighed inwardly before attempting to remove himself from the sofa, a feat which was very difficult on this occasion.

"Wotcher, Remus" Tonks said whilst yawning loudly, her hair morphing back to her customary bright pink. She smiled tiredly at him as she sat up.

"Good morning – ugh well afternoon, How are you?" he smiled weakly.

"I'm fine, Remus, just tired. Are you okay?"

"Fine, thanks" he lied. Truthfully, he was feeling extremely tired now and every part of his body ached considerably but he didn't want to bore Tonks with the details of his illness. Remus was used to this; in fact it was even worse before Wolfsbane was invented, where he would awake not only to extreme illness and lethargy but to various injuries and lacerations caused by him in werewolf form. The strange thing was that he didn't feel quite as bad as he had done last month and he didn't know why that was.

She smiled warmly at him then stood up and left the room. He looked at her in confusion and wondered if she had left because of him. Did he really look that bad? Maybe it just reminded her of what he was. He sighed and lay back down, hoping he hadn't made her feel uncomfortable. After all, she had been so accepting of him. He was beginning to think of getting up to apologise to her when she suddenly walked back in holding two mugs and staring at them in total concentration (probably hoping not to spill them) and Remus grinned.

"Hot chocolate with marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles_ and_ I have walked all the way from the kitchen without dropping them. Don't say I'm not good to you" she smiled proudly.

"Thanks, Nymphadora" he said, taking the mug from her. He was actually rather touched by this simple gesture. It was very surprising to him that Tonks treated him like a friend to her when she knew he was a werewolf. There was a general consensus in the wizarding world that he was a dark creature. Yet, Tonks couldn't have thought this or surely she wouldn't be smiling at him so warmly or talking to him so openly. He was already amazed that she would want to be anywhere near him, yet here she was, making hot chocolate for him and laughing with him the day after the full moon.

"It's Tonks, Remus. Just Tonks. And if I hear you say that horrid name again, I will remove all chocolate from this house!" she threatened, looking deadly serious as he rolled his eyes in amusement. His mood had brightened considerably now that Tonks was awake and talking with him and he found that he felt a lot less ill just with her being here. He idly wondered what it was about this young Auror that made him feel more contented and happier in her presence. Was it her laid back yet exuberant character? Or was it that she actually cared about him enough to ask if he was alright? Whatever it was, Remus felt better, felt more _normal _when she was here.

"So, how was duty with Dung last night?" he asked her as she sat back on the other sofa, sipping her hot chocolate. Her expression changed at once to one of irritability and her hair turned a deep tomato red as she told him about duty with 'Dung, causing him to laugh with her. He laughed as she explained in a serious tone how she would never spend duty with him again and how she could barely look him in the eye due to her irrational anger towards him.

"…I mean, seriously, he is the most obnoxious, irritating, annoying person I have ever met in my life!" she stated dramatically.

Remus laughed again "What, you mean, even worse than Sirius?"

"Yes, at least Sirius has some redeeming qualities" she smiled cheekily, her hair returning to pink again, he noticed.

"I have a feeling I'm being talked about" Sirius said, walking in the room whilst stretching and yawning loudly.

"Actually, Tonks was just saying you have more redeeming qualities than 'Dung" Remus said, finding this very amusing.

"I'd like to hope so too, my mother's portrait has more redeeming qualities than that bumbling idiot" Sirius stated, causing all three of them to burst in to laughter.

"Where's my hot chocolate, Tonksie!?" Sirius stated dramatically, feigning a look of shock and hurt, to which both Remus and Tonks laughed.

"It's Tonks, Sirius. What am I, five?" she grinned. "Besides, you were snoring in the kitchen and you didn't even wake up when I was making it!" she laughed.

Tonks then began to repeat her story about duty to Sirius, who laughed at her antics and her hair, which turned bright red each time she spoke about Mundungus. Sirius also agreed with her statement about 'Dung being obnoxious and irritating.

"You know, Tonks. I really think it's time Moony and I got out Marauder brains working again. It really would be an insult to James if we don't prank 'Dung." Remus imagined how James would react to 'Dung. He imagined his friends eyes widen as he thought of pranks to pull and he laughed.

"That's a great idea" Tonks laughed. "We'll come up with something. Anyway, tell me all about these notorious marauders!" she grinned.

"Well, there was me. The coolest and hottest Black ever to grace Gryffindor with my awesome presence" Sirius smirked.

"Nothing to do with the fact you were the _only_ Black to grace Gryffindor with your presence." Remus laughed, remembering the shock of Sirius' sorting.

"_Black, Sirius!"_

_A small boy of eleven strolled up to the stool with confidence. He had black curly hair and dark eyes and looked every bit as pureblood as his name suggested. He sat happily on the chair, pulling the hat over his head with ease. Remus was shocked by the air of confidence and self-assurance from Sirius Black as he sat on the stool awaiting the hats decision. Strangely, the hat seemed to be taking a while to decide which house Black belonged to. However, there was no doubt around the Great Hall as to which house this boy belonged too. Every Black was a Slytherin and everyone knew that. The Slytherin's stared at him ominously, awaiting their house name to be shouted from the hat, whilst the Gryffindor's glared at him and the Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's dismissed the sorting with disinterest. The young Black was grinning now, obviously happy about the hats choice as it shouted…_

"_Gryffindor!" The hall fell silent._

"True" Sirius smiled, also remembering his sorting.

"Yeah, Mum was telling me how shocked everyone was when you got sorted in to Gryffindor" Tonks laughed.

They continued talking like this. Remus and Sirius told Tonks about the Marauders and some pranks they had been responsible for. A particular one about charming the Slytherin's robes to flash "Purebloods Suck" then "I Love Muggles" on the back of their robes had Tonks laughing for a solid ten minutes. Remus was enjoying reminiscing about his schooldays as well. The next hour was spent this way, the three of them laughing and joking and Remus had to admit it was the best he'd ever felt this early after a full moon. He felt sore and tired but he was also happy. This could perhaps be something to do with a certain pink-haired witch whose happiness seemed to be infectious to those around her. Sirius was very happy she was here as well he noticed and they seemed to forget how tired they all were as they chatted happily.

Their banter was interrupted however, when an owl suddenly flew through the window and landed next to Tonks, biting her hurriedly as she read the letter out loud;

_Tonks,_

_Sorry to do this on your day off, but we need you at the office as a matter of urgency. There have been a number of attacks throughout the night and there aren't enough Aurors here. Come as soon as you can._

_Kingsley_

Remus winced as he thought about how last night had been a full moon. He wondered whether there were werewolf attacks last night. He suddenly thought of Greyback, who was determined to bite or kill people whenever he could at the full moon. Most of his victims were children and most of the time he waited at a spot near them to transform, in order to ensure he would bite them once he was a werewolf. Anger bubbled inside him at these thoughts. Tonks stood up quickly, sighing and shooing the owl away. She accio'd her Auror robes, quickly putting them on and getting ready to leave.

"Well I've got to go but I'll come back when we're done" she said, yawning. "Get better soon, Remus!" she shouted as she practically ran out the door, almost tripping as she went. He almost smiled as her predictable clumsiness and her wishing him to get better. But for the first time, Remus worried about the young Auror.

She would likely be visiting homes where there had been attacks and there would be no telling whether or not death eaters were still there. He knew very well that she was a very capable witch (she had, after all been trained under Mad-Eye). It wasn't that he doubted her abilities in the slightest, he just worried that they'd catch her off guard and she would get injured or worse. He sighed inwardly. He couldn't help thinking about the part Tonks played in the upcoming war. Not only was she a prime target as she was an Auror but she was also a member of the Order as well as the half-blood, metamorphmagus daughter of Andromeda Black, most famed for her marriage to a muggleborn which had led to the Blacks disowning her as well as wanting vengeance on her for being a "blood traitor". This made her even more of a target for death eaters, which worried Remus more than he would've expected. He realised that he'd come to care for Nymphadora and think of her as a close friend and he worried immensely now for her safety.

_**A/N: This chapter is very Remus-focussed and not much happens in it. However, I do think it's important to develop his character and the relationship between Remus and Tonks. I'm also not too sure about the flashback to Sirius' sorting. Let me know your thoughts on it**__**. Also, from now on, it's likely I will stick to updating once per week as things are starting to get a bit busier. **_


	5. Chapter 5: The War

**Chapter Five: The War**

_Tonks POV_

Tonks had never had a more stressful week in her entire career. Over the course of one night there had been two muggle families murdered overnight, a muggleborn wizard had been killed and a small girl mauled by the werewolf, Fenrir Greyback. There wasn't enough Aurors to cope with this and Tonks was kept busy for the entire week trying to sort through it all. The Ministry had refused to publish details of these attacks and refused to believe they were the work of death eaters. She mind numbingly took statements, interrogated people and wrote up the paperwork surrounding each case. It was a hard load and Tonks was exhausted by the time the Auror offices had quietened down. On top of that, she had to spend her only afternoon off watching over Harry Potter. She of course appreciated the need for protecting Harry and knew this was an essential part of her work as a member of the Order. She was also with Remus this time instead of 'Dung. This still didn't increase her enthusiasm however; she was so tired and drained from her work at the Ministry that she really could have used a night off from Order duties. She sighed and attempted to compose herself as she apparated to a spot behind Privet Drive, where Remus Lupin awaited her.

"Wotcher, Remus. Sorry, I was held up at the ministry" she murmured distantly, taking a seat next to Remus under Mad-eyes invisibility cloak.

"Hello Nymphadora, don't worry about it" he smiled, looking up at her and as he did, she suddenly became acutely aware of her appearance. Her usually bright pink hair lay limp and lifeless in dark brown curls below her shoulder. Her eyes were dark and tired and she looked dishevelled and overly-tired, which was also exactly how she felt. Apparently this hadn't gone unnoticed by Remus either and he immediately asked her what was wrong. She looked at him. He looked extremely worried, and his blue eyes appraised her uncertainly, finally looking up at her in obvious concern.

"It's nothing, really Remus. It's just been a bit hectic at work just now. I'm sure it will get better." she said, hoping that this would be true but doubting it. Suddenly, the realisation about this upcoming war hit her. She thought back to the cases she had dealt with that week with a sudden horror and revulsion that wasn't present when she was too focussed on the work she was doing to feel any emotion. She thought of the innocent muggle families, unaware and innocent, who had been mercilessly slaughtered by death eaters. She thought of a small girl who was not yet four, a picture of innocence and beauty, slaughtered by Fenrir Greyback, her family's grief and the horror that the little girl hadn't survived. She thought of a man with brown eyes and a kind smile, who worked at Flourish and Blott's she suddenly remembered, murdered for nothing other than blood status. And suddenly her emotions rattled through her body one by one, each as powerful as the next. She felt horror, revulsion, disgust, shame, anger, fear, hate and she suddenly felt empowered somehow. She felt impassioned about her work as an Auror and her work as a member of the Order. It suddenly became clear to her the reason they were fighting and the reason she had to risk everything for the chance of a better world, of a better future.

Tonks had always appreciated the importance of her work and the importance of protecting others from the Dark Arts; this after all is why she had become an Auror. When asked to join the Order, she had jumped at the chance, knowing herself strong enough to do so and brave enough to see the truth and fight against those who threatened their very way of life. It was only now, however, that the enormity of what she had done and what she would continue to do had hit her. She knew in that moment that she was right to have joined the Order. That she was doing the right thing. That she was fighting not only for herself, but for innocent muggles caught up in the slaughter and for witches and wizards whose blood status was deemed not "pure" enough. She was fighting against the bigotry that had begun infiltrating through their world and fighting to save their world from being overcome with hate. She could die during this, she thought for the first time.

"It's worth it" she suddenly said. "I'll risk everything for this" she decided out loud, tiredness turning her thoughts in to words.

"What?" Remus looked at her in confusion, worry still present in his features.

"This week at work, it's just made me realise. I'd never really thought about the danger of this, this war that's coming, that I could actually _die_ during it. I was just thinking that it's worth the risk. That anything is worth the risk if it creates a better future for us all" she explained to him, shocked by the truth in her words and her own stark realisation.

Remus also looked shocked by her words but recovered quickly "It feels like it did last time. You have to risk everything and be prepared to lose everything and anyone that matters to you. You might be prepared to risk your own life but really it took me until James and Lily died that I realised how much I could lose in this war. But there is much to be gained" he said suddenly, his face shadowed by the sadness of the first war.

He continued "But when everything you hold dear is at risk. When family, colleagues, old school-friends, are being murdered every day, there's a new meaning to it. Suddenly you see what you're fighting for. The importance of winning it no matter what the cost becomes clearer. And you know that you have to fight." He looked at her seriously and Tonks nodded in agreement with him. It had been exactly what she had been thinking about.

"What happened at work, Tonks?" he asked her suddenly, probably wondering why she had chosen such a serious topic of discussion.

Tonks first explained the story about the little girl killed by Fenrir Greyback and she noticed a very sudden change in Remus' demeanour. He stiffened as she told the story about the little girl, looking away from her and refusing to meet her eyes. He looked thoroughly ashamed Tonks thought, though she couldn't understand why at first. She looked at him questioningly.

"How... How can you even bear to sit next to me after… after seeing that?" he asked her quietly, looking visibly tense, shame and grief in his eyes as he stared determinedly at his feet. Tonks suddenly realised why Remus looked so ashamed of himself.

"You're nothing like Greyback, Remus" she said tentatively, putting her hand on his shoulder under which he stiffened considerably.

"I am" he practically whispered, still unable to make eye contact with her and looking very guilty, his eyes pained and distant. It was obvious to her now that Remus considered himself the same as Greyback. She couldn't understand why as he was the complete opposite of Greyback.

"No, Remus, you're not" she said determinedly. "Greyback puts himself in a position so that he can attack when the full moon rises. He actively _wants _to bite and kill people. You do everything in your power to prevent that. You are nothing like him" she stated, staring at him, determined for him to meet her eyes, which he finally did and he smiled slightly at her determined gaze.

"He... Well… He was the werewolf that bit me." Remus told her, looking away from her again, his face flushing slightly. She waited for him to continue. "I… I was only four at the time. I couldn't really understand it. I didn't know or understand why my life had changed so considerably after that… after that night" he said, still looking away from her. "Sorry" he said, looking rather embarrassed that he had just shared such a personal story with her.

"Don't be" she smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Remus. Sorry you had to go through that, especially when you were so young. You really are such a strong person; you should give yourself more credit for that you know. You're a genuinely good person, Remus, don't let the fact you're a werewolf take away from that. It doesn't change who you are". She was horrified at the story he had shared, she had never known about how or when he was bitten but she never thought he would have been so young. He was not much older than the little girl, she thought with a shudder and she suddenly put her arm round his shoulder tentatively, hoping this might comfort him. He looked over at her with such genuine warmth in his eyes that it made her smile.

"Thank you, Nymphadora" he smiled at her so sincerely and so adorably that she couldn't even bring herself to tell him not to call her by her first name. "What else happened at work?" he asked her, suddenly. He obviously wanted to change the subject now and she obliged. She was happy that he had confided this in her but decided not to pry too much.

She then explained the murders as well as the fact that the ministry refused to believe that they were the work of Voldemort's followers. The ministry refused to acknowledge evidence of Voldemort's return, Tonks had explained. Any evidence of such matters, including sighted dark marks and murders were not publicly released and were hushed. It had angered Tonks immensely. She knew that Cornelius Fudge knew that Voldemort had returned. He simply refused to believe it because it was easier for him that way. And Tonks felt hot anger run through her veins when she thought about it. Witches and wizards as well as muggles were in danger every day and yet no-one believed the truth. Dumbledore and Harry Potter were being made out as liars when the truth stared everyone in the face and she knew that only those brave enough to accept reality had any chance of fighting against it.

She had accepted it, however. The truth hurt, she thought humourlessly. It was easier to believe the lie, easier to_ live_ believing the lie. It wouldn't fair in the future, however, Tonks felt sure that sooner or later, the wizarding world as a whole would be forced to accept this horrifying truth. That evil resonated throughout their world, hiding in unknown places and that such evil was gaining power each day. And the truth that was even worse than that, the knowledge that the wizarding world had allowed such evil to grow in the first place. The war was coming, thought Tonks solemnly and she suddenly knew that she would be ready to fight when it did.

_**A/N: The context for this chapter, I realise, is pretty serious and pretty glum. Sorry about that, I just thought in my head that Tonks had to come to a stage where she suddenly realised the enormity of what was happening around her and the part she played in this. Anyway, as always, let me know what you thought! **___


	6. Chapter 6: Moony,Wormtail,Padfoot&Prongs

**Chapter Six: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot & Prongs**

_**A/N: Okay, I just wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed this story so far. Thanks so much! Special thanks to the three guest reviewers who left amazing reviews on the last chapter which I couldn't thank them for! And just so you know, I realise I'm not 100% great with grammar and stuff but to be fair I don't have a Beta or anything. Also, I realise I haven't put this in before but in case you were all wondering, I'm not J.K. Rowling, believe it or not ;) …**_

_Remus POV_

"Do you live here now?" Remus smiled, amused, as Tonks walked in to the kitchen and began to make coffee, wearing her pyjamas with her hair tied up in her natural chocolate brown colour. He couldn't help but notice how breathtakingly beautiful she was, even pyjama-clad and without morphing. He screwed up his face and groaned inwardly; he didn't want to think about Tonks in that way…

"Pretty much, yeah!" she laughed. "Besides, Sirius is hardly likely to let me leave at any point soon" Tonks rolled her eyes, laughing. He was glad that Tonks was a lot cheerier since their chat the other day (probably due to having a decent sleep, Remus thought). They had spoken about the war and the conversation had gotten rather serious. He had really admired Tonks for her strength and her determination to fight in this war. She had also been very understanding when he'd told her about when he was bitten. He'd never actually intended on telling her that _at all_ and when he did he'd expected her to be disgusted, fearful even but she'd been very kind and had reassured him that being a werewolf didn't make him any less of a person. He had seen from her eyes how much she had genuinely meant it and for some reason, coming from her, it made him feel so much better. She really was quite extraordinary, he thought, smiling.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted, however, as Sirius suddenly came bounding in to the kitchen, looking more cheerful than usual. "The kids are coming over today!" he informed them. "Finally, some company" he stated dramatically as Remus and Tonks stared at him, outraged.

"Oh sorry, I meant some cheerful company" he corrected, smirking at them.

"Are you saying Remus and I aren't cheerful?" Tonks said pretending to be offended though her grin and her now- pink hair suggested otherwise.

"Remus is rarely cheerful, if ever. You… only when you're concussed from falling over the umbrella stand, which I suppose _is_ quite a lot…" he mused, whilst Remus laughed lightly and Tonks hit Sirius on the arm for his cheek. He laughed loudly, looking happier than he'd been the past few weeks.

"We'll need to clean out some rooms today" Remus stated seriously as Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Rarely cheerful… right, I suppose we'd better. Don't want them to run in to anything harmful" he said, a hint of seriousness in his tone.

With this, the three of them headed upstairs, taking a bedroom each to clear out. The bedroom Remus was clearing was quite big with a large infestation of Doxy's as well as some questionable objects which he immediately got rid of. As he cleared out the doxies, he heard a bang from the room next to him and confused, he walked in to the room to see what was going on.

To his horror, Sirius sat on the floor with his knees at his chest, his face pale and shining with sweat, his eyes wide with horror and deep-rooted fear at the black cloaked creature which encircled him. He seemed to be frozen to the spot with panic, all rationale left behind as he stared at the ominous figure which approached him. It took Remus less than ten seconds to realise that it was a Boggart and he promptly stood in front of Sirius, causing the Dementor to change shape in to a bright full moon. Fear swept through him at the sight of the moon but he yelled "Riddikulus!" fervently, imagining the moon changing form. As it disappeared he sat next to Sirius, eyeing his friend with increasing concern. Sirius' eyes looked haunted, like the night they had met in the shrieking shack and it was difficult to see his friend look so terrified… so vulnerable.

"Sirius" he said and his friend turned round to him, his body stiffened and his eyes fearful and distant. "It's fine. It's just a Boggart" he explained to which Sirius relaxed slightly, though his eyes still looked pained.

"Thanks, Moony" he said genuinely. Remus smiled at him.

"Come on, we better finish this room" he said, trying to distract Sirius as he retreated in to himself. He'd noticed this was a habit that Sirius had developed since Askaban. If he was upset or stressed he would withdraw from his surroundings and the people around him. It hurt him to see Sirius like this as Sirius in his schooldays would love to share his problems with the three of them, often his infamous Black temper would show itself to them and he could be very dramatic in his displays of emotion. Now however, he was the complete opposite. If he was angry or sad or stressed he simply withdrew and looked void of any emotion whatsoever. A coping strategy after spending twelve years in Askaban, he mused, but sometimes he wished he'd open up to him.

They finished both rooms together before meeting Tonks in the sitting room.

"I have been attacked by three objects, bitten by doxies, insulted by a mirror and insulted by that horrible house-elf" she stated, dramatically, her vivid pink hair looking rather dishevelled. Both Remus and Sirius laughed at her serious expression and she growled at them ominously, stating that it was not in fact, funny and that she refused to help anymore in the cleaning up process as it was "too dangerous". Remus laughed even more at this. The idea of an Auror finding cleaning up as _too dangerous _was downright hilarious; Tonks was still pretending to be serious, though a small smile tugged at her lips, eventually turning in to a wide grin as she laughed with them.

Exactly on time, the doorbell rung and a horrific screeching was heard in the hallway as Remus opened the door.

"Horrible blood traitors and their brats bringing shame upon this noble house, filthy half-breed and half-bloods, and now a filthy little mudblood…" the portrait screamed.

"Shut up!" Sirius and Tonks shouted at the same time to the insane portrait, before eventually managing to close the drapes and render it mute.

Remus politely said hello to the kids and having known them from his year of teaching at Hogwarts, he also introduced them to Tonks, who was looking rather excited to see them all.

"Wotcher" she grinned, morphing her face in to an exact replica of Hermione's much to the girls shock and Remus wondered with amusement if this was something Tonks did to every new person she met. Hermione smiled warmly at her however, looking suddenly thoughtful.

"Oh, are you a Metamorphmagus, Tonks?" Hermione asked her suddenly, looking at her curiously and everyone stared at her in shock. A light blush appeared on Hermione's cheeks at this and Remus smiled. She really was an incredibly clever witch for her age, he thought, remembering back to when he taught Hermione and her discovery of him as a werewolf. She hadn't told a single person, he remembered, and he was still very grateful to her for that.

"Yeah Hermione, how'd you know that already?!" Tonks replied, smiling widely at the young witch.

"I've read about it before" she said, smiling shyly.

"Brilliant" Tonks replied, before morphing her face again in to the faces of Fred, George and Ron before morphing her face in to a replica of Mrs Black's face to which they all recoiled slightly and to which Remus and Tonks found highly amusing.

"You have got to stop doing that, Tonksie" Sirius had told her, looking thoroughly disgusted. "It's horrifically creepy" he added, to which she laughed even more.

Ron, Fred and George on the other hand had grinned at her in astonishment and adoration.

"Wicked" Fred had remarked, seemingly impressed by her abilities.

"Could definitely come in useful…" George had added, looking mischievously thoughtful.

Sirius then invited everyone in to the kitchen and they sat round the table whilst Molly immediately began cooking dinner. The twins were talking animatedly about something, Ron and Hermione were talking about something serious and Ginny was sitting with Tonks who was amusing her with her morphing abilities, portraying her various different noses to which Ginny seemed to find hilarious as did Hermione, who looked over at her in amusement. Remus was currently convincing Sirius that Firewhisky did not in fact "go down extremely well" with a meal.

"Moony, shut up. It's only a bit of alcohol" Sirius mock-pouted whilst the twins looked over instantly with a sudden spiked interest.

"_Moony?_ So it's true then?" Fred questioned, looking at them with extreme interest whilst Remus groaned inwardly at where the conversation was headed. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about his affliction with his former students and he was definitely in no mood for _that_ particular discussion.

"Yes" Remus said tersely, avoiding eye contact with his previous students.

"As in… the… the Marauders!?" George asked, a look of admirable respect appearing over the faces of both twins as they looked at them in shock.

"The very same" Sirius smirked proudly. The twins were staring at them with a look of awe in their faces and Remus was happily surprised at the turn in the conversation.

"Wow" they said together.

"So you've heard of us then?" Remus asked, smiling slightly now that he knew that Fred and George only wanted to know more about the Marauders.

"Heard of you?! Only the greatest pranksters…" said George.

"…In Hogwarts history!" finished Fred.

"Well, we did try" Sirius said

Sirius and Remus were smirking and Tonks looked over at them, amused.

"So Professor Lupin is obviously Moony then…" Fred said, looking curious.

"…who are you?" George asked, both of them looking to Sirius. Remus was surprised at the way in which the _reason_ he was Moony didn't seem to bother the twins.

"Well, Gentleman. Please allow me to demonstrate." said Sirius, looking mockingly haughty as he stood up whilst Remus rolled his eyes, though he was smiling. Sirius then vanished and was replaced by a huge black dog, which stood regally at their feet looking oddly as if it were smiling. The twins' eyes widened as they murmured "Padfoot" at the same time, smiling widely at each other as they realised the significance of the other marauder names. Sirius barked loudly causing Tonks to turn round in alarm and Remus to raise his eyebrows in amusement. The dog then vanished to be replaced by Sirius, who sat in his chair wearing an oddly neutral expression, trying to look as casual as possible as the twins looked at him in awe.

"That was…" said George.

"…amazing" finished Fred.

"Are you pranksters as well then?" Tonks suddenly asked Fred and George, grinning at them. As they replied with a fervent 'yes' they were left looking thoughtful as Tonks had dared them to prank 'Dung, claiming that they she couldn't consider them as proper pranksters until they did so. They had smiled at her mischievous expression and promised her that they would use him as a tester for some of their new "products". Molly Weasley had turned round at this point, looking rather annoyed whilst Tonks tried to look as innocent as possible whilst failing completely.

"When did you become an animagus, Sirius?" George suddenly asked, changing the subject at their mothers reproving glance.

"And who's Prongs and Wormtail then?" Fred added and the two boys looked at Sirius curiously, huge grins on their faces.

"Prongs is James Potter, Harry's father. His animagus form was a stag" Sirius explained, a look of pride and sadness on his face, whilst the twins looked suitably impressed. "As for Wormtail, that's the rat Pettigrew" he told them, his face darkening. "We finally managed it in our fifth year at Hogwarts; it took us three years to manage it. You can imagine how excited we were…" Sirius' voice trailed off and Remus suddenly reminisced on the day the three of them had shown him their animagus forms.

"_REEEEEMUUUUUS! LOOPY! REMUS! WHERE ARE YOU, REMUS?"_

"_Calm down Sirius, I was in the toilet!" Remus sighed inwardly as his friend practically bounced on the spot with excitement. James and Peter stood beside him, looking equally as excited "What's got you three so happy? Should I be worried?"_

"_You won't believe it! Merlin, it's amazing! I can't believe it!" Sirius grinned widely at him._

"_Okay, tell me what it is then" Remus said, looking at the three of them with an expected wariness._

"_Can't tell you but we will show you!" James grinned, nodding at Sirius and Peter and suddenly the three boys disappeared. In their place stood a huge black dog with silver-grey eyes and an oddly cheerful expression for a dog, an equally huge stag with hazel brown eyes which moved around excitedly and a rat which scurried on the floor around the two larger animals. Remus gawped at them as they changed again in to his three best friends. He looked at the three grinning faces in shock, his eyes wide with disbelief._

"_You…you're…"_

"_ANIMAGI!" Sirius shouted excitedly. "I bloody told you it was amazing" he grinned, still practically bouncing with excitement as Remus continued to stare at them dumbfounded._

He smiled sadly at the memory of better times, when things were simpler and happier and none of them had to worry about traitors, death and war. He looked over at Sirius who was also in deep thought, smiling slightly yet looking pained by the memory. Things had changed dramatically for the four of them in unexpected and irreparable ways. They were no longer the happy, carefree young boys they once were. However, two out of four of them remained and they would try their best to make the most of life and the friendship they had, if for nothing else, then for James.

_**A/N: There is a LOT about Sirius in this but Sirius is an important part of both their lives and their relationship so I don't feel **_**too**_** bad about it. Do you think it's a little too angsty towards the end? Do you think I should stop with the flashbacks? And, is it too long? Let me know what you thought! **_____


	7. Chapter 7: Order Duties

**Chapter Seven: Order Duties**

_**A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed/favourited/ followed this story :D, Hope you enjoy!**_

_Tonks POV_

"Hello, Dora" Tonks heard Remus say as she apparated to Privet Drive at eight in the morning for duty with Remus. She was late… well either that or Remus was early.

"Dora?" she questioned curiously, to which he smiled a bit and his face reddened slightly as she sat beside him.

"Sorry, it's just, well you won't let me call you Nymphadora and it's so impersonal to call you by your surname" he said quickly, looking a bit flustered. Tonks contemplated this, her parents had often called her Dora but she had never let anyone else. Oddly enough though, it sounded nice coming from Remus and since he _did_ have an awful habit of calling her by her first name, she decided she'd let him call her Dora.

"Fine, you can call me Dora. As long as you never, EVER call me _Nympha_dora again" she said, feeling that this compromise would work. He agreed with the compromise, smirking at her. She looked over at him. He looked tired, she thought before suddenly remembering that the full moon was tomorrow night. And even though tired, he still looked really handsome, Tonks thought, and she almost blushed at this even though it was only a thought because she couldn't think of Remus Lupin in that way. But she couldn't help but find him to be very endearing, his warm smile and his kind, deep blue eyes and the rare occasions where he sometimes opened up with her, obviously trusting her.

"How are you, anyway, Remus?" she asked, trying to shake these thoughts away.

"I'm fine, _Dora_" he smiles slightly at this. "A little tired what with… well with the full moon tomorrow" he told her, looking at his feet.

"Remus?" She asked him hesitantly.

"Yes?" he looked up at her curiously.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course" he smiles earnestly.

"Well…What- What is it like for you at the full moon?" she asked apprehensively, feeling slightly guilty about asking such a personal question, but also genuinely wanting to know. Because really she had no idea what that experience was like for Remus and she worried for him constantly at the full moon and she really _did_ want to know what it was like for him.

He looked up at her in surprise, and appraised her carefully before answering. "Well… It depends really on whether or not I have Wolfsbane. With Wolfsbane, it's… well it's easier. I can keep my mind and usually just sleep or hang around with Sirius – when he's Padfoot of course. But really I've only had Wolfsbane for the past eighteen months. And without it…" he stopped suddenly, looking up at her anxiously and she felt sure he was carefully evaluating her reaction. So she smiled reassuringly at him and waited for him to continue.

"W-without it is much more difficult. I have no control over my mind and I…well I tend to have more um… injuries after it as well" he said, his face flushing slightly as he looked over at her hesitantly.

"Why? I mean, why do you have injuries after it?" she asked, carefully. She really didn't know much about werewolves, she thought wryly. But she did want to know more. She wanted to know exactly what being a werewolf meant and exactly how it affected Remus' life. She knew how much werewolves were ostracised and hated in the wizarding community but she really couldn't understand why. Yes, of course she knew that werewolves could be dangerous and she knew that werewolves such as Fenrir Greyback scared the hell out of people. But when she saw Remus, she could never imagine herself being the least bit afraid of him. He was just so kind, so thoughtful and so genuinely good. She often wondered why he could possibly still be such a great person even when wizardkind had shown its worst side to him. How could he possibly be so kind when so many people were bigoted against him?

"I'm prying too much. Sorry. Don't feel like you have to answer" she told him at his slightly fearful look and she suddenly felt very guilty for asking such personal questions. Then again, she wondered how many people had bothered to ask Remus about this. Not many, she presumed.

"No, it's fine, Dora. I think you probably _should_ know. I'm just well – surprised at your lack of knowledge on werewolves" he said. "Well that's not what I mean… I just mean…" he said quickly but Tonks laughed as it had been exactly what she'd been thinking.

"It's fine Remus. You're right I really do know _nothing_ about werewolves. I did try looking at some books in the Black library but as you can probably imagine, they're not exactly the most unbiased of books" she said, rolling her eyes. "Better getting information from a more reliable source" she told him, smirking.

"No they're not" he said thoughtful. "Did you not read any of them then?" he asked, looking at her curiously.

"Of course not, I mean, seriously… you've got to be the least evil and dark person I know" she said, grinning at him.

"Most people would disagree with you there…" he tells her, looking away from her.

"Most people are idiots" she said and he smiles timidly at her. "So, you were saying… without Wolfsbane?" she prompted.

"Without Wolfsbane, my mind is taken over by the wolf" he explained uneasily, looking incredibly guilty. "I would kill anyone… even you… without Wolfsbane. Of course, I deliberately keep myself away from humans to transform… so… well… the wolf hurts itself out of frustration that there are no humans nearby" he explains, suddenly looking apologetic and looking away from her, ashamed, like he had when they'd discussed Greyback.

"_You _wouldn't kill anyone. It's not _your_ mind without Wolfsbane" she said. "Stop doing that, Remus" she added.

"Doing what?" he asked tensely, still avoiding eye contact with her.

"Looking away from me and looking so guilty. Why do you do that?" she sighed, determined for him to meet her gaze.

"Because I _do_ feel guilty and I _should_ feel guilty. I keep waiting on something I say that will make you realise what I am and how dangerous I am. I think I'm sometimes too open with you" he said honestly. "I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable" he added.

"Remus, I _know _what you are and I _know_ werewolves can be dangerous. It doesn't change how I see you as a person. And you don't make me feel uncomfortable!" she said, truthfully. "I think I'm the one that makes you feel uncomfortable, since I'm always asking awkward questions" she smiled at him. And in that moment, he was smiling at her so sweetly that she couldn't help but think how utterly adorable he was.

Before Remus had a chance to answer her however, she stood up, grabbing Remus' arm and motioning for him to stand up too. She had seen a glimmer of a black haired boy walking out of Number 4 Privet Drive, looking rather annoyed as he walked quickly out of the street, Remus and Tonks following him silently, keeping as much distance between them and Harry as they could. She wanted to get a closer look at Harry, but she couldn't risk being seen. He finally settled at a park, sitting on the grass, writing something. Tonks and Remus settled behind the park, far enough away that Harry wouldn't be able to hear them but close enough for them to see him and ensure his safety.

"We'll stay here. We can keep an eye on him here. He looks okay…" Remus said, narrowing his eyes to try and see Harry properly.

"He really does look like James" Tonks said suddenly. "Sirius showed me pictures of the Marauders" she said at Remus' confused expression.

"Yes, he does though he has Lily's eyes" he said, looking distant, his eyes were grief stricken and she had the sudden urge to hug him, though she thought this might be inappropriate.

"Sorry… you know, I didn't mean to bring it up" she said sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it" he said, smiling at her. "Wait, does this mean I'm worse company than 'Dung?" he asks, frowning slightly.

Tonks laughs at this. "Of course not, Remus. Unless you're about to tell me about a load of rare and expensive quills that fell off the back of a broom?" she said with her eyebrows raised.

He laughed but just as he was about to retort, they both heard a familiar *pop* which meant someone had apparated nearby.

"Remus, Tonks" came the voice of Kingsley. They both turned round promptly.

"I've been asked to continue duty here. I've been asked if you two will go on a mission… We've received information that Greyback might be meeting with a death eater today and Dumbledore has asked that you both go to keep an eye on the situation. As you know, we've had lots of false reports but it's best to check it out anyway" he said to them, smiling. They both considered this but Remus was the first to speak.

"Tonks doesn't need to come" Remus said quickly, leaving her feeling rather offended.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Remus" she said curtly, feeling slightly hurt.

"No, no that's not what I meant Dora… that's…I just mean, it's not safe for you… It's… Well it's Greyback… It's just…" he was getting rather flustered at this point, looking at her with an expression of both anxiety and guilt. She sighed.

"Remus, I'm an Auror, remember? I can handle it… Where are we going Kingsley?" she said, looking at Kingsley impatiently. She couldn't help but feel a little annoyed with Remus even though when she thought about it, she could understand where he was coming from. This _was_ the werewolf that had bit him as a child and really it was quite sweet that he was so concerned about her. Kingsley told them the location and they apparated there together, disillusioning themselves beforehand.

They arrived at an unknown forest area which they walked around together, trying to stay out of view, looking for any sign of Greyback or any known death eaters. There was no one there as far as they could tell however, other than her and Remus and she rolled her eyes. They had so many incorrect reports of death eater sightings, meetings and the like and more than half they went to were false. False reports annoyed Tonks to no end. It used up her time when she could be doing something worthwhile for the Order. She was beginning to think that this report was as well until she heard the padding of footsteps on the murky grass.

And Tonks suddenly saw him… he was walking towards them confidently. He had sallow skin that was covered in dirt and filth. His eyes were yellowy-brown and his matted grey hair went past his shoulders. She has never seen a person look so _savage_ and so _inhuman_ in her life. How Remus could ever consider himself the same as him was beyond reason to her. They were like opposites, she thought. They walked away from him carefully and stood behind a tree, hoping that disillusionment enough would conceal them. Remus then unexpectedly put his arm around her waist protectively, which made her smile slightly. Greyback appeared to be searching for someone, his yellow eyes scanning the area purposely.

Suddenly the familiar *pop* of apparition was heard by them and Bellatrix Lestrange had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Tonks suddenly felt fear shatter through her body and she tensed considerably. She was _not_ expecting Bellatrix to show up. Neither was Remus apparently, and he tightened his grip around her. It wasn't that she was afraid of death eaters or werewolves; because as an Auror, she really couldn't be. It was just that it was Bellatrix. Bellatrix who was her Aunt, Bellatrix who'd tortured Alice and Frank Longbottom to insanity, Bellatrix who'd have no qualms killing her own sister for being a blood traitor or her own niece for being half-blood. She shuddered. And Bellatrix looked in their direction at once, her cold, dark eyes and malicious smile indicating she had not been fooled by their concealment.

"It seems we have a couple of unwanted guests here. The filthy half breed and my dear niece…" she drawled in a sickly sweet voice, looking straight at them.

_**A/N: I'm sorry for the cliff-hanger (sort of, anyway, haha )! I realise that she probably hasn't escaped from Askaban yet… Oh well I warned it might not ALL be canon, hope you can all forgive me… And I realise that 'half-breed' is also an insult to Greyback, but somehow I doubt Bellatrix would care. Hope you enjoyed and let me know your thoughts **___


	8. Chapter 8: An Unexpected Encounter

**Chapter Eight: An Unexpected Encounter**

_**A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews. **____** They are all much appreciated! Also, special thanks to guest reviewer who I couldn't PM to thank! **_

_Remus POV_

"Crucio!"

The cruel voice of Bellatrix Lestrange shouted and Remus didn't have a chance to react before Dora's high pitched scream penetrated his ears as she fell to the floor, her face contorted in pain, losing all morph as Bellatrix cackled insanely. Anger coursed through his veins as he countered the curse quickly and Tonks stood up, panting and shaking slightly, but drawing her wand out with unexpected speed and vigour as her Auror instincts kicked in. She was duelling with Bellatrix now, determination evident in her face. She blocked another spell from Bellatrix and two from Greyback, before sending her own spells towards Greyback with whom she now duelled intensely.

Remus continued to duel Bellatrix, blocking several jets of red light that shot towards him and Dora, whilst casting his own spells towards her. Bellatrix was looking loathingly at him as she shot spell after spell towards him, which he blocked as much as possible. He couldn't help but wonder why she had not yet attempted the Killing Curse, a regular favourite of hers on those who couldn't provide her with information. She was an immensely skilled witch he thought wryly. He managed to block most of her spells with only a few minor ones hitting him and he cast his own spells towards her as much as he could. As one of his spells hit her, she was thrown backwards, her eyes growing wide with fury.

"You FILTHY half breed" she yelled, casting jets of light towards him as well as various other dark spells which he blocked with difficulty. This was also an insult to Greyback as well of course, though he was more preoccupied with hurting Dora than what Bellatrix was saying. He suddenly turned to see if Dora was okay and noticed the expression on her face as she duelled with Greyback. She looked disgusted, hateful and a little bit fearful yet she was determined to fight, throwing hexes with amazing speed and accuracy. He suddenly thought about how she had told him he was nothing like Greyback. As he looked at her, he realised that she'd never shown any sort of hate or disgust towards him yet she showed it immensely to Greyback. And he smiled. Because she really did think he was different.

He was too distracted by her though and seconds later he felt the Sectumsempra curse slice through the skin on his stomach. Bellatrix laughed maniacally, still continuing to cast spell after spell at him as he blocked them quickly whilst casting his own spells as he felt hot blood soak through his shirt. After less than a minute he was feeling very lightheaded and dizzy but still duelled with Bellatrix fiercely whilst Tonks duelled with Greyback beside him. With the full moon less than twenty-four hours away, Remus was not in his best form and thanks to the huge gash on his stomach; his duelling and defence skills were slipping away from him.

"Crucio!" Bellatrix shouts and he feels nothing but pain. Indescribable and unbearable pain that leaves no part of his body untouched, sheer agony that rips through his entire body, pain that is like hot knives scorching through him, pain that is so torturous that even a second under it feels like an hour. And suddenly the pain is gone. And everything seems to be blurred, Dora and Greyback were no longer duelling but still had their wands pointed at each other and Bella's wand was pointed in Remus' direction as she smirked happily.

"You'd be dead if it weren't for the Dark Lords' orders not to kill anyone yet. I don't know if he'd count half breeds though…" she laughs haughtily, looking thoughtful. So that's why she hadn't used the killing curse… She looked between him and Dora, hatefully glaring at them and Remus knew in that moment that Bellatrix wanted nothing more than to kill them both there and then. He was actually more than surprised that she hadn't tried to, however, he knew her dedication and loyalty to Voldemort was extremely strong, stronger even than her urge to kill them. She gives them a menacing look before apparating on the spot, Greyback following.

He's definitely losing too much blood, he thinks, and he can't find the strength to heal the wound, he doesn't even know if he'd be _able_ to heal it. Not in this condition anyway. He's sitting down now, he notices, and he can't really see properly. Dora is saying his name he thinks, she's definitely muttering something at him, her wand pointed at him and she sounds worried. Suddenly the pain increases in his stomach, as if the skin was being pulled or stretched and he winces, though the pain subsides quickly. He can see Dora's heart shaped face clearer now. She has her wand pointed at his stomach and she's muttering another spell, her face filled with worry, though her expression was of determination and concentration.

"Remus? Can you hear me, Remus?" she's saying tentatively, her hand resting on his cheek, her eyes staring at him worriedly and he's suddenly startled by her proximity.

"Mmm fine" he mutters and she laughs lightly at him. Because really, even he knows he's not 'fine', it just seemed to be habit to say so. He looks up at her; he's definitely feeling better now. She's appraising his condition and worry is still present in her features. He smiles slightly. He looks down to find that he has no shirt on and there's an angry scar across his torso, the slash has closed he notices and though it's still painful, it's no longer bleeding. It looks more like a scar than an open wound now and he thinks it doesn't look too out of place next to all the old scars that criss-cross his body. He suddenly feels self-conscious as he feels sure Dora would be disgusted by the amount of scars that are visible. He looks up at her uncomfortably and she's appraising him anxiously.

"I think I stopped the bleeding… I'm not particularly great with healing spells. I mean, I think it will be okay. Does it hurt? Do you want me to try again? I think it should heal actually… though it might scar…" she rambles, looking worriedly at him.

"I don't think another scar would look too out of place…" he mumbles, weakly. "Thanks, Dora" he tells her genuinely because he really is very grateful to her for healing him and she does look rather worried about him. He's not very used to people worrying about him and this makes him appreciate it even more. She relaxes slightly and hands him his cloak, which he puts on hurriedly, still feeling ridiculously self-conscious. She sits next to him and he notices she has three long scratches on the top of her arm, which he traces lightly.

"Are you okay, Dora?" he asks, feeling guilty.

"Yes" she said, smiling weakly at him. Upon noticing his concerned expression, she rolls her eyes. "I'm perfectly fine Remus, honestly. How are you feeling?" she asks, smiling a little at him.

"Good. Do you want to apparate?" he asks her.

"Let me see" she said, to which she opens his robe to reveal the wound. "I don't know, Remus, it looks like it might open again if we apparate and it could splinch" she said concernedly. However, without thinking, he suddenly grabs her arm and apparates, desperate to leave the area. As he feels the familiar feeling of apparition, he also feels a hot, slicing sensation across his stomach and as they arrive at Grimmauld Place, he knows that Tonks was right and the wound _has_ opened again. He sighs. She looks quite furious with him and she just about drags him by the arm in to the sitting room, ignoring Mrs Black's screeches and Sirius' shouts.

"You absolute _idiot_, Remus Lupin" she sighs, pointing her wand again at his stomach, muttering spells quickly. He once again feels the pain subsiding though not as much as it has before. She's looking at him irately as she walks out, returning with a pot of dittany, which she applies to the angry wound.

"You do realise it's not going to heal as well now!" she sighs, looking frustrated, the roots of her hair beginning to turn a slight red.

"Sorry…" he murmurs, because Dora angry is actually pretty scary. He also feels quite bad about it, though he just wanted to get them home as soon as possible. He sighs, running his fingers through his hair.

"What happened?" asked Sirius worriedly, standing at the doorway looking exhausted and as if he'd just woke up. Tonks explained what happened to Sirius who was extremely angry on their behalf and the two of them were on a rant about Bellatrix and their hatred of the majority of Blacks.

"Bloody death eaters most of them, always on about the so-called purity of blood. Hah! I'd love to see who resides in the 'most noble and ancient house of black' now" Sirius says and Dora agrees with him, laughing.

"Merlin, I need some chocolate" Remus told them, feeling slightly weak and in desperate need of chocolate.

"Moony, you _always_ need chocolate" Sirius said with his eyebrows raised, grinning.

"Oh, come on, I've been wounded in battle. I definitely need some chocolate" he tells them pleadingly and Dora rolls her eyes at him, smiling now, and Sirius still has his eyebrows raised, eventually handing him a bar of chocolate which he eats happily for Remus is a firm believer in that if chocolate doesn't make you feel better, _nothing _will. It does make him feel better though, the sugar making him feel less weak and faint and he smiles. However, as they sit together in the sitting room, Remus notices that Sirius looks quite dispirited.

"I'm bored" Sirius sighs, looking rather depressed. "I hate this bloody house" he adds, angrily. Remus sighs, for he really does feel terribly bad for Sirius, though he also understands the importance of him staying where he is. He knows Sirius though, and he knows how much it hurts Sirius to have to live here, in this dank and depressing home, even though he tries not to show it as much as he can.

"Where are the kids?" Remus asks.

"They went out to Diagon Alley with Molly and Arthur…" Sirius tells them, looking sheepish.

"Oh, I just realised I have something to do today" Dora suddenly says, a little _too_ innocently, Remus thinks and he knows she's definitely up to something. She gets up quickly, looking rather excited as she prepares to leave. She smirks happily, warns him not to move from the sofa (he laughs lightly at her concern) and walks out of the house smiling. She was _definitely _up to something.

_**A/N: Was a bit nervous about this one as I'm not sure I'm that good with writing fight scenes. Anyway, hope you enjoyed **___


	9. Chapter 9: Shame of my Flesh

**Chapter Nine: Shame of my flesh**

_**A/N: Wow, can't believe I've reached 40 reviews! Thank you all so much :D. Also, special thanks to Ronksxx and Guest reviewer who I couldn't PM to thank! **___

_Tonks POV_

"I have an amazing surprise for you!" Tonks told her mother, looking rather mischievous and cheery.

"What's that?" Andromeda replied, looking wary of her daughter's sudden appearance and promise of some sort of surprise. Tonks was very excited now, she had been trying to organise this for ages and it was actually finally happening! Her vivid pink hair was so bright that it was almost luminous as she hurried to get her mother ready to leave.

"Read this first, mum" she told her impatiently as she handed her the slip of paper that read "_The Order of The Phoenix headquarters may be found at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, London_" which her mother stared at in confusion before Tonks quickly grabbed her arm and apparated to Grimmauld Place, without giving her a chance to think about it.

"W-What is going on, Nymphadora?" her mother asked her uncertainly and Tonks is feeling so incredibly happy about her plan that she doesn't even scowl at her mother's use of her first name. In fact she practically bounces in to the dark murky hallway, completely forgetting about a certain Troll's leg umbrella stand, which, of course, she immediately tripped over. She cursed inwardly as she landed face first on the floor and awakened various portraits which screeched down at them angrily.

"Filthy shame of my flesh and her disgusting half-blood daughter, filthy mudblood lover, what shame the blood traitor has brought on the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black" Mrs Black screamed down at her mother as Tonks attempted (and failed) to close the drapes surrounding the portrait.

Andromeda looked incredulous in the former Black house and she stared wide-eyed and dazed at the portrait and Tonks' attempt to shut the thing up. She seemed too stunned to speak (which was a first for her mother, Tonks thought). As she looked ready to say something, Sirius and Remus suddenly appeared in the hallway, looking shocked at the sudden screeching and even more surprised when they saw who had come in. Her mother looked close to tears as she eyed her little cousin nervously, whilst Remus walked over to Tonks and helped her silence the portraits. Sirius also looked rather astonished with the sudden appearance of his favourite cousin, whom he hadn't seen in over twelve years. He rushed over to her and engulfed her in a bone-crushing hug, which she returned, teary-eyed.

"Andromeda!" he breathed happily, "I've missed you so much" he said, his arms still tightly around her. And she then noticed that her mother was crying and not tear-in-her-eye type crying but full, proper crying and Sirius looked pretty close to tears as well and she suddenly felt like she was intruding on a very private moment between the two of them. Her mother very rarely cried, in fact she could count on one hand how many times she'd saw her cry. And Sirius, well, she had never, in her entire life, saw Sirius cry. She glanced at Remus who seemed to think the same thing. They were so happy to see each other again, she thought, and she knew she had been right to press the matter. After all, in times like these, who knew when there'd be such an opportunity again?

"We'll leave you for a bit" she said to which Sirius smiled gratefully and she headed upstairs with Remus following. She sat in the library (which has sofas and a fireplace and is probably the cosiest place in the Black house) and sat on the sofa beside Remus, feeling rather contented. Her plan had most definitely been successful and Sirius would definitely be cheered up with the appearance of his favourite cousin and her mother would also be so much happier now that she'd saw Sirius.

"How did you manage to get Dumbledore to agree to that?!" Remus suddenly asked her in shock and awe. She smiled at him, it hadn't actually been too hard to persuade him, she remembered.

"I have my ways" she smirked mischievously before raising her eyebrow at his curious expression. "Well, I basically told him that I'd already told my mum about Sirius, that Sirius would feel a lot happier if he met with her again and that he's likely to do something rash if he didn't. He seemed to think she was trustworthy enough anyway" she told him and she smiled as she remembered the conversation.

"Oh… Well that's great. I'm sure they'll appreciate it. They were very close when they were younger" he told her, smiling.

"Something to do with being the outcasts of the family I think" she laughed but she noticed that Remus was grimacing slightly, his hand on his stomach.

"Are you okay?" she asked him concerned.

"Yes" he said, smiling in an obviously forced way.

Tonks looked at him in disbelief, raising her eyes at him. "Remus" she said threateningly and he sighed at her, lifting his t-shirt to reveal the wound he'd gotten from Bellatrix, which was now extremely red and irritated looking. He looked rather ill as well, though she assumed that had more to do with the fact that the full moon was tomorrow rather than anything else.

"You should see a Healer" she told him, though he rolled his eyes at this.

"I don't. I'll be fine, it's just a cut" he replied.

"A cut!?" she replied in disbelief. "Fine, at least let me put some Dittany on it" she said and he looked at her disapprovingly as if he might tell her no but eventually sighs, nodding at her determined expression. She applied the Dittany to his wound, feeling a bit guilty when it sizzled against his skin, although it was healing it. She looked up at him and he was looking rather amused, she thinks, though she can't think what's so amusing about it.

"What's so funny?" she asked confused.

"You, you're grimacing more than I am with that Dittany" he told her. He was laughing slightly but he also looked very grateful. She smiled when she realised that she does look quite pained when applying the Dittany, but this is only because she _knows _that Dittany, as much as it heals, also hurts.

"Well, it hurts…" she told him pathetically.

"I know. I just didn't realise it hurt you as well" he said, grinning.

"Ha. Ha." She smiled sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, thanks, Dora." He told her genuinely, smiling shyly at her and she can't help but think about how beautiful his smile is. Or just how beautiful he is. Nope, she didn't just think that at all.

"Not a problem. I'm bored, Remus" she told him, mostly because she's trying to stop herself from thinking about how striking his blue eyes are and how breath-taking his smile is. But also because Sirius and Andromeda are downstairs catching up so she and Remus have to stay upstairs and there's _nothing_ to do.

"Dora?" he suddenly asked and she turned to him. "What house were you in at Hogwarts?" he asked and she's somewhat surprised at the question. "Sorry, I just realised when I saw that book over there that I didn't know what house you were in" he told her, pointing to a book called _"Slytherin House; Purity, Ambition and Success". _

"Well it wasn't Slytherin…" she told him as she remembered her own sorting.

"_Tonks, Nymphadora"_

_Nymphadora Tonks growled at her first name, which she absolutely despised, and some of her fellow students laughed at her strange name. Her hair was red now and everyone seemed to stare at this strange little girl whose hair kept changing colour, seemingly from its own will. She laughed a little at this, though she was a bit embarrassed as well, I mean with a name like Nympha-bloody-dora she could be doing without even MORE attention. She strolls up to the stool, literally tripping over her feet on the way, owing to more laughs and sits on the stool as her face burns. Could this actually get any worse?_

"_Ahh, Miss Tonks, what an interesting mind you have" Tonks rolled her eyes at this. "Pfft, yeah right" she thinks. She's happy the hat didn't call her by her first name though or she may actually have burned it. _

"_You are very brave, Miss Tonks but your loyalty seems to be the trait you identify most with, as well as your eagerness to make new friends…" the hat speaks and she's starting to fidget now because this should NOT take this long and Tonks really doesn't have enough patience for it. "Hurry up" she's thinking, forgetting the hat is examining her thoughts._

"_There's no need for hurry" the hat tells her to which Tonks rolls her eyes. After waiting another approximately ten seconds the hat speaks again._

"_You're loyalty and hard work will make you an excellent student. I hope you put your talents to good use in…"_

"_HUFFLEPUFF!"_

"It's not funny" she told Remus as he struggled to stop laughing at the story of her sorting.

"Seriously though, Dora, you do like to be the centre of attention. And I've never heard of anyone telling the sorting hat to hurry up" he told her, laughing even more as she scowled at him.

"Well, it took ages! For a Hufflepuff, I'm not always _that_ patient" she told him seriously.

"So I've noticed" he smirked.

"Tell me about your sorting" Tonks said.

"Errr" he said, looking now slightly uncertain and embarrassed. She had no idea why he hadn't expected that question after he'd asked about her sorting. She was definitely not letting him get away with that though.

"Just tell me!" she told him firmly and he began the story of his own sorting.

"_Lupin, Remus"_

_Remus Lupin walked apprehensively towards the stool which the sorting hat lay on. He looks down, his face reddening, trying as much as possible not to draw attention to himself, which is more or less impossible as it is his sorting and everyone's staring at him. He doesn't like people staring at him. He doesn't like when he's the centre of attention, it makes him uncomfortable and if he's honest, a little fearful. He's terrified as he puts the hat on. He's terrified that it __**won't **__sort him at all, that it will be __**unable**__ to sort a werewolf. And what if it tells the whole school what he is? He shudders at the thought, shakily putting the hat over his head as his heart thumped in his chest. The hat stays silent on his head for at least thirty seconds (which felt like thirty hours) and Remus became more nervous the longer he waited. Could he trust the hat? It might not shout a house at all, he suddenly thought. It might decide that he shouldn't be in any house, that he shouldn't be in Hogwarts at all, he thought, feeling sick._

"_There's no need to panic, Mr Lupin. Of course you will be sorted, I merely find your mind to very interesting… you have the cleverness and wit of a Ravenclaw, yet you possess many qualities that Gryffindor House hold dear" the hat explained, startling Remus slightly, though he did relax somewhat with the hats promise that he would, in fact, be sorted._

"_You have been through a lot for any witch or wizard, Mr Lupin, especially at such a young age. I have made my decision. Good luck, Mr Lupin, in…"_

"_GRYFFINDOR!"_

"You really thought it wouldn't sort you?" Tonks asked Remus, her face filled with concern.

He looked thoughtful, his face flushing slightly. "Well… No. I didn't ever think I'd be able to go to Hogwarts in the first place because of my condition…" he told her and she's startled by his sudden honesty. He seemed to be as well, she thought, as he looked away from her, his cheeks reddening. She always felt a bit honoured when he told her things that were so personal. Because she knew it took him a lot to share it with anyone and she was glad that he trusted her enough to confide in her.

"Let's see how Sirius and Andromeda are doing" Remus said quickly, determined once again to change the subject. He had a very bad habit of doing that, she noticed, but followed him downstairs none-the-less.

Her mum and Sirius were chatting animatedly with each other and Sirius looked very contented. He had a rare charming smile on his face and excitement in his eyes which she had only seen once since meeting Sirius again. That had been when he'd first laid eyes on Tonks after over twelve years without seeing her. Her mother was less shocked now and more just pleased to be with her cousin. Her eyes were red with emotion but she was smiling happily, quite obviously elated to see Sirius. And Tonks was so glad to have reunited the two blood traitors of the Black's again. She smirked happily.

She and Remus joined the conversation and the four of them spent the entire day talking about everything and anything. Tonks was rather proud of herself for setting this up, especially since seeing the effect it had on her mother and cousin, who were both much happier and more excitable than usual. And bringing this sort of joy to her mother and cousin meant that setting this up had definitely been worth it.


	10. Chapter 10: Beautiful

**Chapter Ten: Beautiful**

_**A/N: I really am so sorry about how late this is! I never meant it to be this late but I was sort of busy with moving house and stuff and sorting out schedules with my Beta. Anyways, sorryyy! I promise the next chapter will be on Thursday! Also, thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, special thanks to Guest who I couldn't PM to thank. And thank you so much to my Beta, cae-prince, for helping me make this chapter better! **___

_Remus POV_

_It was a hot summer's evening and Remus was walking through a sunlit forest with Dora. Her vivid pink hair was effortlessly bright and she smiled sincerely at him as they strolled deeper in to the forest. Despite the tranquillity, there was something that was painfully irritating to him. It was like he'd forgotten something important but couldn't for the life of him remember what it was. Dora remained unaware of his thoughts as she walked beside him, smiling serenely as she examined the scenery that surrounded them. They continued to walk together in tranquil silence until the forgotten memory suddenly became agonisingly clear. They walked in to a clearing and as the sun set, the soft white clouds parted carefully to reveal what he'd painfully forgotten; that tonight was a full moon. His body began to tremble and shake uncontrollably as he stared fearfully at the gleaming pale moon which seemed to taunt him with its very presence. Pain rattled through him as his limbs became longer and fur sprouted from his skin and he looked over at Dora in horror as she stared at him, her eyes wide with fear as the transformation overcame him. _

_His transformation complete, he let out a piercing howl as his body settled in to its new form. He sniffed the air around him and was overwhelmed by the smell of prey – prey that was very close to him. Instincts overcoming him, he snarled viciously at the human, his hackles rising. _

_The human was backing away from him and he could smell its fear. He took a step forward and anticipating what the human would do, he chased after her as she ran from him._

_She did not get far before he pounced on her, his paws on her chest as he howled triumphantly at his catch. The human's cries of fear did not dissuade him as he sunk his teeth in to her flesh. The human cried out;_

"_Remus! Remus, no, it's me!"_

_He stopped momentarily as he felt the human within him rise. Letting out another howl, he sunk his teeth in to the soft flesh again. _

"_Remus!"_

_The smell of warm human blood overcame his senses as he growled viciously at his prey._

"_Remus!"_

"Remus!" Dora shouted, shaking him awake and he stared at her in horror, looking at her half-awake for any signs of attack and is relieved to find none. She looked at him anxiously; her dark eyes appraised him with concern.

_A dream. It was a dream. She's okay. Dora's okay._

He breathed deeply, trying to calm his mind before he could respond normally to her.

"Are you okay?" she asked him worriedly and for some unknown reason he felt an overwhelming need to hug her. And perhaps it's because the full moon was tonight or perhaps because of the anguish he still felt at the dream but he gently put his arms around her and pulled her tight to him, revelling in her warmth and the fact that she was okay. He felt a flood of relief rush through his body. He hesitantly released her from the hug and she smiled at him with her eyebrows raised.

"What was that for?"

"Sorry" he told her, his voice hoarse. "Just… Just a bad dream" he added, trying to look unaffected by the dream, though his mind was still recovering from the vividness of it, her screams of fear still echoed in his ears and her fear-stricken face was still traumatising him and he struggled to feign calmness and indifference when he looked at her.

"What was it about?" Her voice was soft to his ears, concern evident in her tone.

"Nothing" he said a bit too quickly, because he really _did not _want to tell her what the dream was about. And not because it's embarrassing but because he was genuinely scared she'd now realise that he_ is_ capable of hurting her… of… of killing her. He shuddered violently and she frowned.

"Nothing?" she asked him in disbelief.

"Believe me, you'd rather not know…" he told her, hoping that she would drop the matter but really, it's Dora, and he should know better.

"I doubt that" she told him, looking at him determinedly and he sighed resignedly.

"Well, it was about you and well… we were walking… and it was night time and… well…" he looked at her and she was listening intently, waiting on him to continue. He sighed deeply. "Well… it… it was a full moon and you were there and…" he stopped and ran his fingers through his hair nervously. But Dora seemed to realise he didn't want to continue and she smiled tentatively at him and wrapped her arms around him reassuringly.

He stiffened at the contact (because he really _wasn't_ expecting it) but she looked up at him, smiling in a way which conveyed both warmth and concern.

"You worry too much" she told him kindly. She was smiling slightly and still had her arms around him. He felt rather taken aback by her affection, especially after what he's just told her but for some reason, Dora just kept surprising him.

"Ugh, would you two get a room, I haven't had breakfast yet!" Sirius smirked brightly as he walked in to the room whilst they both jumped apart and Remus felt his face flush crimson.

"Morning, Padfoot" he said sarcastically.

"Morning, Moony, Morning Tonksie, what wondrous adventures will we get up to today?" he said grinning, though Remus could hear the slight bitter edge to his words. No sooner had Sirius walked in to the sitting room when Fred and George suddenly apparated directly next to Sirius.

"Morning!"

Everyone jumped, before Sirius burst in to uncontrollable laughter as they exchanged conspiring glances. Remus watched this exchange, instantly realising that the three of them were definitely up to something. He stole a glance at Tonks; she looked as suspicious as he felt. Turning his eyes back to the twins and Sirius, he hoped that whatever they were plotting had nothing to do with him.

As it turned out, his paranoia was not needed as the prank they played was both hilarious and did not involve him at all, which definitely constituted a good prank by Marauder standards.

It started at dinner, where some members of the order had joined them, namely Kingsley, Emmeline and 'Dung. They then had a relatively peaceful dinner, though Fred and George wore identical grins all through dinner, exchanging furtive glances with each other and Sirius.

Remus continued to watch them, and even as he did, he noticed George's hand twitch over Mundungus' glass. Remus' eyes narrowed, even as 'Dung picked up the glass, downing the drink in one long gulp.

'Dung stared blearily at the rest of the table, as though noticing them all for the first time. He stopped when he reached Dora however, his gaze becoming unblinking and unfocussed.

"Nymph'dora…"

Remus turned at the sound of the voice, and was greeted by a sight which was too hilarious to even attempt to quell his laughter. Mundungus Fletcher stared at Dora with a dreamy expression plastered on his face, seemingly taken with her. Remus observed as Dora's eyebrows shot up in disbelief, shock overcoming her annoyance at the use of her first name.

"Nymph'dora" he repeated.

Dora looked up at him in alarm and frustration.

"I-I think I'm in love with you" he told her seriously as he continued to stare at her with that dreamy, vacant expression.

Remus saw Tonks' features morph into horror as her hair and face turned bright red, as she stared at Dung in shock. 'Dung himself was staring at Dora as if she was the most beautiful person to ever grace the planet (not that Remus was denying that) and he stood up from his chair abruptly, still staring intensely at Dora. Everyone was suddenly struggling to contain their laughter whilst Dora looked too utterly horrified to do anything and 'Dung was still proclaiming his eternal love for her and was becoming extremely agitated with everyone laughing at him.

"I don't fink its funny" he told them seriously, agitation present in his voice. "I'm in love with 'er" he said desperately. His face was still dreamlike and he stared at her in wonder and awe, whilst Dora was still looking rather perturbed, her hair maintaining its vivid red shade, as well as her cheeks, which matched the shade of her hair almost perfectly.

'Dung began to move towards Dora, who promptly got up and sat behind Remus. 'Dung looked at Dora like all his Christmases had come at once which Remus found, although slightly disturbing, was downright hilarious for those observing the scene.

"_You better do something about this"_ she whispered angrily in his ear and he can't help but find the whole thing extremely hilarious. Everyone else at the table seemed to find it rather entertaining as well and both Ginny and Hermione had tears in their eyes from laughing whilst the twins smirked in pride at the result of their prank.

Fred and George, though they seemed as if they wanted to say something, couldn't due to the hysterics they were in whilst Sirius and Ron were laughing uncontrollably as the scene continued to unfold. Kingsley, Emmeline and Molly are laughing too though they did try (and fail) to be subtle about it. Meanwhile 'Dung was still completely serious and Dora was still hiding behind Remus, her face and hair still a deep tomato red. 'Dung walked towards Dora and she looked at him in irritation.

"Don't you come _any_ closer" she warned him and he looked truly heartbroken, which only added to the comedy of the situation and made everyone burst in to hysterics once again just by the look on his face.

"You three!" Dora stated dramatically, pointing to Sirius, Fred and George. "You three had better have an antidote to…. to _that_" she told them threateningly.

The three of them looked at her seriously for a few seconds before bursting in to fresh waves of laughter. She looked at them menacingly.

"I'm serious, I will hex you all if he comes near me" she said, her hand seemed to twitch towards her robes, where he imagined her wand was currently stowed. He was still failing to control his laughter which led to Dora hitting him on the shoulder.

"It's not bloody funny, Lupin" she said, though the tone of amusement which trailed through her voice immediately gave her away.

The twins eventually relented to giving 'Dung the antidote after Dora promised she would permanently disfigure their hair to the colour pink if they didn't.

'Dung then left Grimmauld Place very shortly afterwards looking rather dazed and embarrassed and mumbling something about looking for new cauldrons to sell. Kingsley and Emmeline leave as well, having been put on guard duty for the night.

The place had quietened down now, however, the amusing scene continued to replay in his head, and he couldn't help but find it very entertaining. He could now see the colour pink beginning to return to Dora, spreading slowly through her hair from root to tip and he observed how her dark eyes seemed to compliment her now vivid pink hair. Her eyes twinkled in amusement as she spoke though she still feigned anger. She looked over at him, as if sensing his stare and grinned playfully.

He couldn't help but think that Dora was rather beautiful.


	11. Chapter 11: Firewhiskey

**Chapter Eleven: Firewhiskey**

_**A/N: Sorry for the delay **__** ! Thank you all so much for following/favouriting/reviewing! Special thanks to 'Guest' and 'Red' who I couldn't PM to thank for their great reviews :)**_

_Tonks POV_

A few weeks after the kids had arrived at Grimmauld Place; Tonks was summoned to an emergency Order meeting which she had vaguely been told was about Harry Potter. As she sat round the table, she couldn't help but notice the absence of Mundungus Fletcher, Sirius' angered expression and the look of worry that was across Remus' face. She wasn't complaining about Dung's absence though, as far as she was concerned, she was more than happy to never see him again in her life since the love potion incident. She sat next to Remus, looking at him concernedly. He noticed this and gave her a slight reassuring smile as everyone sat down to listen to Mad-Eye.

Mad-Eye explained what had happened to the rest of the order which made Tonks really angry with 'Dung and glad he wasn't at the meeting or she might have hexed him. They decided to use broomsticks to get Harry as the Trace would detect Harry apparating and the Floo network was being monitored by the Ministry. Tonks came up with the idea of an "All-England best kept suburban lawn competition" to get rid of Harry's relatives and a few people seemed to find this quite amusing.

Eight of them were to be Harry's "Advance Guard" to get him safely to Grimmauld Place. Sirius was not best impressed that he couldn't go and was currently sulking with a bottle of Firewhiskey. The rest of the Order left and Tonks wrote the competition letter to the Dursley's, sending it by Muggle post. She then went up to see Sirius, because she really did feel bad for her cousin. He was basically imprisoned again - imprisoned in the home that held so many painful memories for him.

She walked in to the room where Sirius was. He was sitting sullenly in a huge bed which was situated in the middle of the room. Although dark and dreary, this room seemed to have a bit more life in it than the rest of the house. Gryffindor posters adorned the room which was clad in scarlet and gold and various photos were affixed to the wall. There was also unmoving pictures of bikini-clad Muggle girls to which Tonks smiled; this had clearly been Sirius' room as a teenager. She took a closer look at the photos and smiled at a picture of four young boys grinning cheekily at the camera; the marauders. It was a different picture than the one Sirius had shown her and each boy was smiling brightly at the camera; she guessed they were around fifteen or sixteen years old.

One of the boys she recognised immediately as a younger and happier Sirius, the one she vividly remembered from her childhood, his curly black hair was shining in the sunlight and his silver-grey eyes beamed with the type of exuberance and joy that could only come from the carefree nature of youth. She felt saddened somehow when she recognised the difference between the Sirius of the photo and the Sirius that sat in the room. Another of the boys she recognised as James Potter by his striking resemblance to his son. James had the same messy-black hair as Harry, yet he had hazel brown eyes which differed from his sons emerald green ones. The third boy was Remus Lupin. He was grinning at the camera, the type of grin which was spontaneous and genuine; and rare in the Remus she knew, who was much more controlled in his emotions and expressions. He looked very much the same, though more young in appearance and with no flecks of grey in his hair. But he had the same sandy brown hair, the same intense blue eyes and she noticed that the Remus she knew had still retained much of the boyish look of his youth. The fourth boy in the picture was the only one she did not recognise but knew to be Peter Pettigrew. He was smiling just as the other three were. She smiled sadly at the photo. The photo that portrayed the happiness and joy of the marauders in their prime, before the war had viciously torn them apart, destroying the ties of friendship which were portrayed so strongly in the photo.

"Sirius?" she said carefully and Sirius' head snapped up to look at her, as if he hadn't noticed her arrival.

"What?" he snapped back. She noticed his face looked rather pale and exhausted.

"The photo…" she said timidly. "It's… well it's really brilliant" she said, pointing to the photo of the four boys, the photo that brought a genuine yet troubled smile to his face.

"Yeah" he answered her, his voice strangely hoarse.

"Are you okay?" she asked him worriedly. She immediately regretted asking this however, because it was pretty obvious that Sirius was far from okay. He was evidently frustrated from not being able to do anything in this war. She suddenly realised that he had taken a far more active role in the first war; no wonder he felt so hopeless during this one.

"I'm fine Tonks, I don't need _pity_" he barked at her, though he looked a bit guilty. She sighed.

"That's good cause I'm not really good with pity" she replied and he smiled a bit, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Let's get drunk" she told him and he looked at her with his eyes suddenly raised.

"I think I was already doing that" he told her wryly.

"Yeah, well it'll be better with company, trust me!" she smirked as she took the bottle of Firewhiskey from him and took a swig from it, wincing as it burned her throat. He rolled his eyes.

"Right, come on downstairs Sirius and stop being such a loner" she told him light-heartedly. She walked downstairs, Firewhiskey in hand and Sirius followed her. She took out three glasses and poured a small measure of Firewhiskey in to each of them and she handed Sirius and Remus a glass each. Remus looks at her with an expression of confusion and he looked as if he was about to say something.

"Don't, Remus" she quickly warned him. "We're getting drunk with Sirius… Either that or he sulks upstairs and gets drunk himself" she told him and he sighed at her before downing the drink as Sirius and Tonks did the same.

"I don't need…" Sirius started but Tonks interrupted him.

"Pity. Yeah I know, keep your curly hair on, you're not getting pity, you're getting drunk" she told him, as she poured more Firewhiskey in to each glass. Sirius grinned at her, a smile that was genuine and reminded her of the Sirius in the photo.

...

"It's finished" Tonks told the empty bottle of Firewhiskey in her hand, looking at it in confusion. She briefly wondered who had finished the bottle. She didn't remember drinking _that_ much.

"Hmm" Remus said to her, a look of confusion across his face as he stared at the empty bottle. She looked over at Sirius who was sitting on a chair with his head on the kitchen table, snoring loudly. She snorted as she laughed. Remus looked at her curiously and she didn't know why it was so funny, but it was.

"Si…Sirius…sleeping…snoring…I'm drunk" she told him between fits of giggles that had overcome her and he looked at her bleary-eyed and confused, and laughed with her.

"Hey, Sirius, get up, stop being lazy! Get up, look what you've done, there's no Firewhiskey" she told him as she shook his shoulder firmly. Quite honestly, she was outraged with the lack of alcohol left because she was definitely in party mode now. And although she was pretty sure she would be grateful in the morning, she was a bit annoyed that all the alcohol had been drunk.

"What is it?" Sirius croaked deliriously, his eyes still closed and Tonks laughed at him before hitting him again.

"Get bloody up Sirius Orion Black! We got drunk for _you_; you're not going to be the first one asleep!" she told him and he looked up at her in annoyance, his eyes half-shut.

"Leave me alone, Sleep. I want sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep!" he demanded as he closed his eyes again. She was definitely annoyed. He should not have been sleeping. It was so unfair!

"Remus?" she asked as she noticed that he was almost sleeping too.

"What?" he asked her tiredly.

"You're great" she smiled at him and he laughed;

"You're just drunk" he slurred.

"I'm not drunk, I'm serious!" she said.

"No, he's Sirius" Remus replied, pointing towards Sirius and he laughed.

She laughed too and began to consider whether she was actually drunk or not. She thought she might be a little _tipsy_ but not drunk. As she thought about how intoxicated she was though, she tripped over a chair, a chair that was right in front of her and lying on the floor in fits of giggles she decided that she _was_ drunk. She was well and truly drunk. As she stood up, still laughing, she found both Remus and Sirius were asleep now and she rolled her eyes in exasperation. They were just the absolute _life_ of the party.

...

Tonks woke up in the sitting room the next morning with her head pounding, her stomach churning and with an unbearable need for a non-alcoholic drink. Ugh. Walking in to the kitchen, she was overcome with dizziness and inevitably, in this condition, she fell over the umbrella stand and was now sitting on the floor, having a life contemplating moment as to whether she should stay there (she would be safer and she was tired) or go to the kitchen (she was hungry and she needed coffee). As she contemplated what she thought was a very difficult decision, Remus came from downstairs and looked at her in confusion.

"What are you doing down there?" he asked her, his voice croaky and incredibly endearing. He looked tired and his eyes were a bit red she noticed, though thinking about it, she was more than positive that she looked a hundred times worse.

"I fell and I can't be bothered getting back up" she told him, and as he laughed at her in disbelief as she smiled pathetically.

"You're in luck… I'm sure we have a hangover potion somewhere" he told her.

"Come on then" he added, and he grabbed her hands and pulled her up from the ground quickly. She still felt lightheaded though and that movement was way too fast for her fragile state so she threw her arms around Remus' neck, determined to stay upright. He tensed considerably (he _had _to stop doing that) and she smiled.

"I'm too dizzy" she whined and reluctantly let go of him but grabbed his arm in case she needed some balance. He looked at her suddenly and smiled at her, a smile that was soft yet genuine _and adorable,_ she thought suddenly.

"Where's my idiot of a cousin?" she asked with a grin.

"He's sleeping and refusing to get up. He's a bit moody this morning" he told her, laughing slightly.

"Can't imagine why" she said as she began to feel the effects of her own hangover catch up with her. She scrunched her face up as her head pounded painfully.

"So on to more important matters, where's this hangover potion you speak of?" she asked because really, she _needed_ it. Remus looked as if he did as well and she assumed Sirius does. So all in all, the hangover potion was definitely the best idea.

He laughed lightly at her and they walk in to the kitchen where he retrieved the potion from the cupboard and poured three glasses. She downed hers quickly, the sickly taste replaced the taste of Firewhiskey in her mouth and she felt immediately better. It was like someone had cleared her head, her stomach was better and she actually felt normal, albeit tired. She sighed happily.

"Better?" Remus asked her curiously.

"Yes, loads! How are you?" she said, happier now.

"Better, too. Though I still blame you for the hangover" he said, grinning at her.

"Blame Sirius for being so sulky" she retorted with a smirk.

"Speaking of Sirius…" he said, picking up the third glass. She smiled as he walked away to give Sirius the potion.

About five minutes later, Remus appeared in the kitchen, this time with a very grey looking Sirius.

"Morning Sirius!" she smiled cheerily. He grumbled in return and sat with his head on the table, looking sullen.

"Your fault…" he mumbled almost inaudibly and Tonks laughed.

"My fault that _we_ kept you company whilst _you_ drank yourself to sleep?" she asked and she laughed at how incredibly ill he looked. She glanced at Remus and she noticed that he was already looking at her. He smiled nervously and looked away and Tonks felt her stomach flutter. Merlin, she was becoming like a hormonal teenager around him. She needed help. Within a few minutes Sirius was snoring again, his head on his arms, which were crossed on the table, this lead Tonks to wonder why he had bothered to come down in the first place.

"Morning!" shouted two voices together.

The twins Apparated in to the kitchen and Sirius jerked awake in shock which caused the four of them to laugh heartily at him whilst he growled at them as he muttered about their being too much happiness in the kitchen for him to handle in his ill state. They laughed even more at this.

"Morning, Fred. George" Remus said politely whereas Tonks says nothing to the twins, because she was still pretending to be outraged at the love potion prank. So she had to admit that it was hilarious but it had also led to awkward tension between her and 'Dung ever since. Then again, it was probably a good thing because he definitely spoke less to her now.

"Aw Tonks are you still mad at us?" George said lightly, as he put her arm around her shoulder jokingly whilst she growled at them.

"Come on, Tonks, you did tell us to prank 'Dung" Fred added with a cheeky grin, whilst Remus was clearly struggling to contain his laughter, much to the twins' amusement.

"You were to prank him not me! And Remus, stop bloody laughing" she said, hitting him with a roll of parchment.

"It was actually Moony's idea" George suddenly said and she looked over at him in outrage, only to notice he looks quite shocked as well.

"How was it my idea?" Remus asked, dumbfounded.

"Because we were talking about pranks and you said love potions were hilarious to use on people who hated each other" Fred told him and the three of them were laughing again, much to Tonks' dismay.

"Oh I'd forgotten about that conversation" Remus said laughing and even though she was rather annoyed right now, she couldn't help but notice how much more charming Remus was when he was laughing.

As quickly as they appeared, the twins Disapparated, presumably back to bed and Sirius moved from the table shortly afterwards, also presumably back to bed. It was rather early, so it was no wonder her and Remus were the only ones awake. Tonks ate breakfast with Remus and she couldn't help but steal glances at him all morning.

Merlin, what was wrong with her? But he really was pretty gorgeous. She loved how one look at his intense blue eyes could quite literally melt her heart. She loved how adorable his smile was. She loved how thoughtful he was and how much he trusted her. Her thoughts were racing now, Merlin, was it possible she _fancied_ Remus Lupin?


	12. Chapter 12: Harry Potter

**Chapter Twelve: Advance Guard**

_**A/N: This chapter I really struggled with tbh. But I really wanted to post it on time… And from now on it will be back to my usual every Thursday updating schedule! Thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed or followed or favourited so far. I really do appreciate it! **___

_Remus POV_

A few weeks later, Remus and Tonks were part of the Advance Guard which brought Harry Potter from Privet Drive to Grimmauld Place.

As soon as Harry was brought to Grimmauld Place, he was sent upstairs to join Ron and Hermione and the Order Meeting began. Remus couldn't help but once again think about how much Harry resembled his parents. He looked just like James, with his stature, features and messy black hair and yet he had Lily's brilliant green eyes. He felt a sudden sting of grief for his two best friends who had been murdered. He thought about the traitor, Pettigrew and anger bubbled inside him. He thought about Sirius, forced to rot in a cell in Azkaban for twelve years, forced to spend over a decade of his life haunted by dementors, his every happy memory and thought stolen from him, now forced to stay in his childhood home and Remus knew how much he despised the place. Sirius wasn't the type to stay out of the action and he knew how much he struggled with it every day. He sighed sadly and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Cheer up Remus, it's a meeting not a funeral." Dora suddenly said. There was a hint of concern in her voice and he laughed inaudibly at her vivid pink hair and cheery smile which were in complete contrast to his own depressing thoughts. For some reason, his mood was always lifted when she was there and everything seemed a little brighter, a little happier and a little more hopeful when she was beside him. He smiled as he thought about her.

"That's better!" she grinned as Dumbledore began the meeting.

Dumbledore discussed recent death eater activity, which had been minimal and subtle due to their need for secrecy at the present time. He also spoke about recruitment, how Voldemort had been recruiting more death eaters as well as trying to recruit other beings such as Giants and Werewolves. He also briefly mentioned the recent Werewolf legislation that had been put through by Dolores Umbridge and how this may have an impact on the Werewolves' willingness to join Voldemort. Remus could feel the entire room looking at him. He felt his face flush slightly and he looked down, suddenly finding the table to be extremely interesting. After a while, he glanced up and looked at Dora. She was frowning and the roots of her hair were a deep tomato red, in contrast to the rest of her hair, which was bright pink. He wondered why she looked so angry all of a sudden as she had been perfectly fine before the meeting began. Dumbledore concluded the meeting by emphasising the need for guarding the prophecy that Voldemort desired.

Within a half hour, most members of the Order had left and the kids had retreated back upstairs. Sirius was also upstairs in a bad mood and Molly Weasley was banging pots angrily in the kitchen. Molly and Sirius had had an argument about Harry and how much he should know about the Order and the prophecy. Remus had kept out of it as much as possible, though he _had_ suggested that Harry be consulted; the two of them had snapped at each other and were now in a rather sulky mood. Sirius was sulking somewhere upstairs, probably with a bottle of Firewhiskey and Molly was making it quite evident that she also wasn't happy. Remus didn't particularly want to be around either of them and decided to seek solitude away from an angry Molly Weasley and a sulky Sirius Black. Remus stood up slowly and left quietly and subtly from the large kitchen and made to retreat to the Black library, which surprisingly was the least dark looking room in the house, which was more than he could say for the books held in it.

"Where'd you think your sneaking off to, Lupin?" Dora said as she caught up with him in the hallway, grinning at him cheekily. He smiled at her sudden appearance. Her dark eyes locked on to his for a second before he looked away quickly. He told her he was going to the library and she looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"Oh really! Planning on leaving me with Molly, were you? No way, I'm coming too, Molly's pretty scary when she's angry" Dora said; her face looked suddenly fearful.

"And here was me thinking you were an Auror…" Remus laughed as they made their way to the library and she hit him on the arm though she laughed with him. He suddenly noticed that although she seemed to be in a cheery mood, Dora's hair was now a vivid, fiery red.

"Dora?" he asked as they sat down on the large black sofa in the library. The library was one of the only rooms in the Black house that Remus actually liked. He loved to read and though he probably wouldn't read any of the books that were actually held in this library, he still loved the room itself. It was quieter than the rest of the house; it was also comfortable and warm and had a homely feel to it, something that most rooms of the Black house lacked.

"Yeah?" she answered, her eyes focussed on his.

"Were you aware of the colour of your hair?" he asked, smiling slightly. She took a strand and examined it closely. She didn't seem at all surprised by the sudden intense red colour of her hair; she simply smirked.

"Yeah, it will probably stay red for a few hours if I don't morph" she laughed somewhat, though Remus thought there was a bitter edge to it. She then scrunched up her face and her hair returned to pink, albeit it was a slightly reddish pink. However, Remus wondered, exactly what had made her hair turn red in the first place.

"What's got you so angry?" he asked her, curiously. He definitely noticed her hair turning red during the meeting so it couldn't have been the argument between Sirius and Molly. It must have been something that was spoken about during the meeting. She raised her eyebrows as if she was in disbelief that he didn't already know why she was angry.

"Dolores Umbridge, What else?" she said, her tone was suddenly full of anger and there was definitely a bitter edge to her voice now. Remus smiled somewhat as her hair once again turned tomato red, spreading quickly from root to tip. He was surprised that Werewolf laws, of all things, were what had made her angry.

"It's fine, Dora. It was sort of expected…" he said to her in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. Although he did sigh as he thought about the new legislation which would restrict his life even more than it already was, making it practically impossible for him to gain employment _and_ he now had the Ministry checking up on him all the time. It was something that had been threatened for a while, so he wasn't all that surprised when Umbridge actually put it through, though he still felt resentful about it. He wondered why Dora was so angry about it though… most people either thought it was a good idea or didn't really care about it at all. There certainly wasn't much opposition to it. The thing about Dora is that she always said things that shocked Remus. He supposed it was because he hadn't really met anyone like her before. She was very honest and upfront about her opinions, especially if it was something that particularly angered her. Although Remus would never admit it, this was a trait that he loved about Dora.

"It's not fine, Remus! It's not fine at all. It's ridiculous. Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to put that horrid old toad in charge of anything? I mean, how can you not be angry? Remus, why the hell should you not get a job just because of bigoted ministry idiots like her? She's ruining so many people's lives and not only that, but convincing so many Werewolves that following Greyback and Voldemort is the only way to go, the only way for them to have a better life. Merlin, I really hate her. You know this will be extended to muggle-borns soon as well and everyone will see that she's really all for Voldemort and his stupid ideas of blood purity. The Ministry is becoming more hateful and bigoted by the second" she said as she exhaled shakily. He also noticed she was clenching her teeth and if he was honest, he was rather taken aback by her sudden outburst of anger. There were few people who would defend Werewolves like that… defend _him_ like that.

"Hmm… You know, Dora, I don't think there's many people that are as angry as you are about it…" he said, a hint of pride in his voice. Because he really was in awe at Tonks and her defence and anger on behalf of werewolves. Her fiery spirit and the way she always stands up for what she believes in was just one of the many things he loved about her. Err, liked… liked about her.

"That's because they're ignorant" she said and her hair was still glowing red.

"Don't you think that it's because… well Werewolves are dangerous so the ministry are releasing legislation to protect…" Remus started to say.

"You know that's bullshit Remus" Dora interrupted and Remus smiled. He had been trying to portray what the Ministry's argument behind the legislation was but Dora, of course, was having none of it.

"Well, yeah… But that's what everyone thinks… That's what it's portrayed to be" he told her grimly and she nodded in agreement.

"Of course it is… the ministry need an excuse of some sort for it." She sighed angrily. Dora's hair was still bright red and Remus decided his task for the day would be to return it to its former vivid pink glory.

"Cheer up, it's not all doom and gloom" he told her. Her expression brightened slightly and her lips twitched and almost formed a smile.

"I guess not" she smiled and they sit in silence for a few seconds.

"Dora?" he said suddenly. She turned to him.

"Do you- do you want to go out? You know… for a coffee or something. I mean if- if you want to. I just don't want to be stuck in this house all day" He felt somehow nervous about asking her this, though he didn't know why.

"That's a great idea!" She grinned genuinely this time and her hair turned back to vivid pink. Remus smiled at this. So the task of returning her hair back to pink was actually a rather easy one.

"Tonks!" a voice shouted suddenly and Remus identified it as Ginny's.

"Yeah?" Dora shouted back.

"There's a ghoul in the attic! A proper scary ghoul too, can you help?" Ginny shouted and Dora rolled her eyes, smiling.

"C'mon Remus, don't think you're getting away with not helping, you weren't defence teacher for nothing" she winked at him and he smiled as he followed her up to the attic. After a tumultuous half hour getting rid of a certain evil ghoul, Remus was sat in the kitchen with Sirius and Dora and the kids had remained upstairs.

"That was tiring!" Sirius sighed dramatically and Remus raised his eyebrows. Considering that Sirius had run around in the form of Padfoot in a very hyper mood, Remus could hardly see what was so tiring about it.

"Tiring, Sirius!? All you did was run about barking at people!" he told Sirius, who laughed at the comment.

"Hey, I've got to do my bit as host. Plus, I scared the ghoul away" he said. Remus rolled his eyes as he remembered how he had definitely not scared the ghoul away and if anything had encouraged it.

"You did not scare it away, Sirius. You encouraged it!" Dora told him, smirking. Remus laughed.

"Well it was good company that ghoul, you know" Sirius stated in mock-seriousness before turning round to go back upstairs.

"Aren't you coming out at all Sirius?" Remus asked him, noticing that his friend had become a bit more reclusive lately.

"I am not, no. This Firewhiskey won't drink itself, Moony." Sirius said, winking whilst Remus shook his head. _What were they going to do with him?_

"We should go just now Remus, before Molly calms down and makes us all tidy up again" Dora suddenly said.

"Okay" Remus agreed and he thought that Dora was probably right and he didn't fancy any more cleaning right now.

"Where are you two going?" Sirius suddenly asked from hallway, a curious yet suspicious expression on his face.

"Out for a coffee" Dora told him and his face lit up dramatically.

"Aw your first date, I'm so proud!" He said. He was looking at the two of them with the type of pride a father has for his children on their first day of school. Remus rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Sirius!" he told him to which Sirius simply laughed, told them he was glad they're flirting could be taken elsewhere and walked upstairs.

As they exited the doorway of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, Dora looked at Remus apprehensively. He smiled and took her arm as they apparated. They arrived at an alleyway which led to a small muggle coffee shop which was near to Grimmauld Place. Remus ordered them both Mochas (some sort of combination of hot chocolate and coffee which Remus personally thought was a genius idea).

"It's nice to be out of Grimmauld Place every once in a while" Remus said and Dora smiled, nodding in agreement.

"Yeah it is. It's good to get a day off too, though back to work tomorrow I guess" Dora said, sighing.

"You love it really" Remus said, smiling.

"Nah… not so much… There's too much paperwork. Merlin, I hope I don't bump in to Umbridge." Dora said and Remus suddenly also hoped she didn't bump in to Umbridge. It was mostly because he couldn't trust Dora not to say anything to her.

"Don't say anything to her if you do" he warned her though she smirked, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Would I do that, Remus?" She questioned as if in disbelief that he could possibly think she would.

"The scary thing is yes, you most definitely would" he told her and she laughed.

They spent over two hours in that muggle coffee shop, drinking enough caffeine and sugar to avoid sleep for at least three days. He found it odd just how easy he found it to speak with Dora and to spend time with her. It surprised him just how much he _wanted_ to spend time with her. It also surprised him that he actively looked forward to her finishing work and how he was so much happier when she was around him. He was beginning to think that his feelings for Dora went a bit beyond friendship, and that, quite frankly, _terrified_ him.


	13. Chapter 13: Moonlight

**Chapter Thirteen: Moonlight**

_**A/N: Thanks for the reviews/follows/favourites, I can't say that enough! Also, special thanks to both guest reviewers of the last chapter who I couldn't PM to thank. I know this is a day late but it IS a bit longer than usual so I hope that makes up for it **___

_Tonks POV _

"Hey, Sirius" Tonks said happily, as she walked in to the kitchen of Grimmauld Place. She had just spent ten hours working at the Ministry. Eight of these were spent filling out and checking over reports and the other two were spent trying to figure out where Sirius Black could possibly be hiding. It was completely and utterly boring so she was more than happy to be here now. Since she'd found out about the Order, Grimmauld Place had become like a second home to her. In fact she spent more time there than she did at her own flat.

"Hey Tonks, how are you?" Sirius asked her, smiling at her arrival. She smiled as she scanned the room quickly, looking for her favourite occupant. However, the only person that sat at the long wooden table was Sirius.

"I'm okay, work's annoying me though! How are you?" she asked him cheerfully as she took a seat at the table.

"This _house_ is annoying me!" he said dramatically.

"What, even with the kids here?" Tonks questioned. She knew that having the kids here often cheered Sirius up.

"Yeah but they'll be leaving soon…" he said and Tonks could see for the first time, just how hard that was going to be for Sirius. It was hard enough for someone with Sirius' nature to stay in this hell-hole constantly, but the kids were the only thing that seemed to keep him going right now. She dreaded how her cousin would be when they went back to Hogwarts.

"True… When is Harry's hearing by the way?" Tonks asked. She had been thinking about Harry today. She knew his hearing was soon and she was really worried for him. Tonks knew, however, that it would be Amelia Bones taking the hearing and Amelia was honest and fair. So Harry did have a good chance, she thought. She told Remus this too and although he smiled and nodded at her, she could see the concealed anxiety in his eyes that he had on behalf of Harry.

"It's next Wednesday" Sirius told her, a look of worry momentarily crossing his face before he consciously replaced it with a smile. There seemed to be a constant tension in the walls of Grimmauld Place for the past few days as it drew closer to Harry's hearing.

Where's Remus?" she said curiously, trying to make her voice as she tried to hide the disappointment that trailed through her voice because Remus wasn't there. She was genuinely curious as to where he was though as he was usually here unless he had duties for the Order, which she would know about.

"Could have sworn you were going to ask that, Tonksie" Sirius said winking as he looked at her with that knowing look that made Tonks feel extremely nervous and made her face flush. She morphed the chagrin from her face and smiled slightly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, a bit too accusatory.

"Oh nothing, nothing at all… But, dearest Tonks, had you looked out the window, you might've noticed the moon is now full" he said, sarcasm dripping from his voice as he grinned at her playfully.

"Oh…" She suddenly laughed at the realisation of her own stupidity.

"Yeah" Sirius nodded mockingly.

"So where is he?" she asked, wondering why he wasn't here anyway. He had Wolfsbane, didn't he?

"Well he insists on not transforming here when there are people here, so he's up at his house" Sirius told her, a look of obvious concern crossing his features and Tonks frowned.

"Is he by himself?" Tonks asked in concern. She hated to think of Remus having to spend the full moon himself, even though she knew he'd no doubt done it on countless occasions before.

"Yeah" Sirius replied, looking thoughtful.

"Well, where is it?" she asked firmly and Sirius frowned.

"You can't go up there, Tonks…" Sirius started whilst Tonks interrupted;

"Why not?" she asked, her expression determined.

"Because he wouldn't be comfortable with that and he'd think you were in danger and blah blah blah, come on, you know what he's like" Sirius explained, rolling his eyes. Tonks thought about this and knew immediately that he was right. There was no way Remus would want her there, he could barely even look at her when he _spoke_ about it.

"You're probably right actually… Well I'll go up in the morning then, so where is the house?" Tonks asked once more. She realised then that she'd never been to Remus' house before. And although she felt bad that Remus was alone for the full moon, she knew that Sirius was right and he wouldn't react well to her presence. She would definitely go up in the morning though, just to make sure he was alright.

As she was beginning to relax, a very sudden and very horrible thought entered her mind.

"Sirius! Sirius, the Sectumsempra wound… when he transforms… won't it… won't it open again?!" Sirius spun round and looked at her. She was thinking quickly now. The transformation from human to wolf took a huge toll on the body _and_ the wound was very new and had barely even healed properly. As the bones and muscle take shape, the skin is stretched meaning that there was a high possibility the wound had opened during transformation. She was panicking now, because she didn't even know how long the full moon had been up…

"Oh Merlin, I've got to go there!" she told Sirius quickly, already getting her cloak on. For she really had to get there or… well she didn't really want to think about what would happen if she didn't.

"You know that he'll…" Sirius started but then stopped. At once, a look of panic came over his face and she could tell that Sirius was also scared about what could happen to him.

"Sirius he could bleed to death!" she almost shouted, because she was actually beginning to panic and at that moment, she couldn't care less about Remus Lupin's idiotic pride; she just had to get there as soon as she could.

"You're right. Go, he'll get over it. Please be careful" Sirius told her, giving her a quick hug, as she ran out the door and she was so intently focussed that she didn't even trip on her way out.

She apparated quickly to the address Sirius had given her and found herself in front of a small house which was plain and inconspicuous. It sat on its own, surrounded by trees and forestry. Tonks didn't pay much attention to the look of the house; however, as her heart beat fast in her chest and adrenaline pumped through her veins as fear overcame her. She was terrified that he could already be seriously hurt. There were several protective wards on the house that took Tonks a while to break before she finally set foot through the door.

"Remus?! Remus?!" she shouted loudly as she searched the house frantically before finally finding him in one of the bedrooms.

The wolf looked up at her and his amber eyes widened in surprise. She was relieved to find that he was awake and alert but she also noticed immediately that he was injured; blood matted the fur on his side and there was a lot of blood that had spilt on to the wooden floor. She walked towards him quickly and he growled quietly but not menacingly at her and backed away from her as much as he possibly could. She walked further towards him and he backed away even further, his ears flattening. He growled again, this time he had looked away from her. He couldn't seriously be scared of her, could he?

"Well, it's your own fault Remus, if you hadn't been so against seeing a healer in the first place…" she trailed off because the wolf looked up at with a heart-breaking expression of guilt on his face. How a wolf could possibly look _that _guilty was beyond her but Remus somehow managed it. She sighed.

"That is so unfair, Remus. Merlin, this gives a whole new meaning to the concept of puppy eyes" she smiled slightly at him and walked over to him, taking her wand out from her robes. He backed away further but had nowhere to go when he reached the wall and she knelt beside him.

"I have to heal it, Remus, you'll lose too much blood…" she told him gently and he looked suddenly sad. He looked sad yet worried and he also looked scared and Tonks had to admit to herself that she was surprised at the depth of emotion that was displayed in the wolf's amber eyes. Even more so because human Remus was so much more controlled in his emotions. She pointed her wand to the wolf's side and casted healing spells quickly and methodically. She breathed a sigh of relief as the wound stitched together, although he had still lost some blood, she thought. She cast a spell which cleaned most of the blood that was on his side and that which was on the floor disappeared. Meanwhile wolf-Remus stared at her as if he was in deep thought.

After her frantic spell-casting, she finally got a chance to properly look at Remus as a fully transformed werewolf. He had sandy-brown coloured fur with silver specks in it, the same as his hair as a human. His eyes were no longer blue, but amber, though they conveyed such human emotion that she almost found herself lost in the wolf's eyes. As a werewolf, he was much bigger than a normal wolf and she reasoned he would look fearsome were it not for the obvious human behaviour and characteristics that he portrayed. As she stared again in to his eyes, she noticed that he still looked thoughtful and rather sad.

"Why do you look so sad?" she asked him, looking at him in confusion. She rolled her eyes at herself because of course he couldn't speak back to her. Tonks then gently placed her hand on his head and he suddenly looked up at her as she stroked his fur. He had his eyebrows raised. He was a wolf and he had his eyebrows raised. She was suddenly taken aback by how human he was and she grinned playfully at him.

"Yeah, I can see_ exactly_ what you mean by dangerous dark creature and all that, Remus" she told him as she stroked the fur on his head gently. And very suddenly, she realised the irony of that moment; she was sat with a fully transformed werewolf at the full moon and she felt totally safe and completely at ease. Sadly, it reminded her just how wrong everyone was about werewolves, how wrong they were about _Remus_. She sighed dejectedly.

"You know it feels weird talking when you can't talk back" she told him and he looked up at her, his amber eyes looked confused. She was about to ask him why he was confused before she realised that he couldn't answer her. It was a very one-sided conversation, she thought wryly.

"Oh, can I stay or would you rather I left?" she asked him suddenly, because she only just realised that she had pretty much just turned up at his house without warning and made herself at home. He looked at her before resting his head on her shoulder, to which she smiled.

"I take it that means I can stay… Even if it doesn't, I'll just assume that it does" she told him, smiling. She gently stroked his head again and she wondered what he was thinking.

"You're awfully _tame_, Remus. Do you not even howl at the moon or anything? That's a bit boring…" Tonks told him and she could swear she saw a glint of amusement in his eyes. "I'm going to go and snoop around your house and be nosy" she told him joyfully before leaving the room and doing just that.

Remus' house was not overly large but not small either, it was certainly much bigger than Tonks' flat. The walls were mostly soft beiges and pristine whites and creams and she had to admit it was a welcome change from the dark and drank rooms of Grimmauld Place. The house was unnaturally immaculate and Tonks reasoned this was because Remus hadn't lived here for a while, after all, he had lived in Grimmauld Place for the past year with Sirius and the year before that he'd lived at Hogwarts. It still had a homely feel to it and it was very _Remus_; with shelves and shelves of books and a beautiful antique fireplace in the sitting room. After seeing the entire house, she went back in to the bedroom and sat next to Remus.

"This is a lovely house, Remus. I mean, it's a bit too clean but it's really nice!" she told wolf-Remus who looked up at her and seemed to be listening to her intently.

"Hmm… What to talk about. Oh! You will never believe what that idiot Dawlish said to me today at the Ministry. He told me that I was to morph my hair a more appropriate colour for work!" she said, shaking her head in disgust as wolf-Remus raised his eyebrows at her.

"I know! How ridiculous is that? Apparently pink hair is unprofessional so now I have to have bloody boring brown hair every day. Urgh!" she told him, her face scrunching up in disgust at the thought of brown hair. She did not suit 'appropriate' hair colours. Tonks loved bright and vibrant colours that represented her life and how she felt.

She was most often seen with pink hair, and that was because she was happy most of the time and pink seemed the best colour to represent this. It wasn't that Tonks' life was perfect… it was actually far from it. With a war about to break out and her being right in the middle of it, her life was definitely not perfect. But she was still happy and there were many things that kept her happy in times like these. Sirius when he was in a cheerful mood made her happy (even if she was sometimes the victim of his unfortunate pranking ideas). Visiting her mum and dad and her friends made her happy (though she hadn't seen some of them in a while… She would need to plan a get-together). Another thing that made her incredibly happy was spending time with Remus. She smiled as she stroked the fur on his head. He was lying next to her, looking up at her.

It felt strange that she was having a completely one-sided conversation but Tonks continued to talk anyway, trying to keep herself and Remus occupied. She told Remus all about work, what cases she had dealt with that week, the amount of paperwork she had to do, how much Dawlish was annoying her, how much the Ministry was covering up and how much her attitude to work had changed.

"I mean, I'm happy to be there y'know because I feel like I am making some sort of difference but at the same time it seems to be less and less each day. Everything is being covered up and I'm barely ever given difficult cases because I'm not willing to pass them off as having nothing to do with Voldemort. I became an Auror for cases that actually meant something, to be able to fight against dark witches and wizards and to be able to protect people. I guess work isn't as good as I thought it'd be. Sometimes I'm just a bit optimistic…" she told Remus, who appeared to be hanging on her every word and seemed to be focussing intently on her.

"Sorry, how annoying must this be for you? I'm rambling on and you can't even tell me to shut up" she laughed. He shook his head.

"You can't possibly find this interesting?" she smirked but wolf-Remus nodded. She laughed before rambling for a while longer.

Eventually though, after a long shift at the Ministry and exhausting everything she could possibly talk about, her eyes drifted shut and she fell in to a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

She awoke to Remus (now human) appraising her with an extremely anxious expression and she raised her eyebrows. He looked quite ill; dark circles rimmed his bloodshot eyes and his skin was much paler than usual. She should have known he would be worried about _her_, even though he was the one that was ill.

"I'm perfectly fine, Remus, stop panicking" she told him quickly as she yawned and smiled tiredly at him. She checked the time. It was 6AM so she was working in just an hour. She groaned; she hated early morning shifts, especially when she hadn't had much sleep the night before.

"You shouldn't have come here last night Dora, it's… I'm too _dangerous_!" he told her and she rolled her eyes at his frantic tone.

"Don't be ridiculous, Remus. You weren't dangerous at all, plus you would have bled to death you idiot" she told him, trying to reassure him as he was looking rather panicked. It seemed however, that he wasn't listening to her.

"It doesn't matter, you still shouldn't have come" he said, the same look of panic still on his face. Tonks really couldn't understand what his problem was; he certainly didn't seem to have much of a problem with it when he was in werewolf form.

"So I should have let you bleed to death?" she questioned as she tried to make Remus see the irrationality of his own thoughts.

"Yes" he said determinedly, looking away from her. His breathing was still fast and Tonks didn't know whether this was usual for after the full moon or whether it was his worry over her that had caused it.

"Merlin, what is wrong with you!? I'm fine; you're fine, what's the problem?" Tonks truly couldn't see what his problem was. She had come over last night because she knew he might have been (and was) injured from the transformation. He had Wolfsbane so there was no danger to her from him and the night had went alright, no-one was injured or hurt.

"Dora, do you have any idea of the danger you put yourself in by being near a fully-transformed werewolf?" he said to her, the same heart-breaking guilty look on his face that he had the night before. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. He refused to meet her eyes, which Tonks knew meant he was embarrassed, although she didn't see why he would be.

"You had Wolfsbane" she said pointedly.

"That's not the point! I might not have and you wouldn't have known that! You can't just do that!" he said, his expression of both guilt and anxiety. She wondered if this was a normal side effect from the full moon.

"Why are you being so over-dramatic?" Tonks asked, raising her voice slightly. She was starting to get a bit annoyed now. She wasn't always the nicest person in the morning and being woken up at 6AM to this hadn't exactly put her in a good mood.

"I'm not being, Dora. I just can't believe you came over here… you just… you just don't get it" he said. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. If he wasn't so adorable, she would have _definitely_ hexed him.

"No… What I don't get is why you are making such a big deal of this" Tonks said, gritting her teeth.

"It's because I don't want to hurt you!" Remus said testily.

"You never hurt me!" she practically shouted. Why couldn't he see that!? She wasn't hurt in the slightest and he was making it out as if she was in some sort of mortal danger.

"I could have though. You shouldn't have come over" he repeated, his voice steady now.

"Yeah I'm getting that, you _have_ said it about ten times now. Fine, whatever, I'll go… sorry for preventing your imminent death" Tonks said heatedly before turning and storming out of the house in anger, apparating to her own flat instead of Grimmauld Place. She was too annoyed to go to Grimmauld Place and face people.

At first she was so overwhelmingly angry at Remus. He was so perfectly okay last night in wolf form and now he'd woken up and basically told her she shouldn't be there. She had only gone up to make sure he didn't bleed to death, which definitely wasn't the worst thing she'd done in her life. And then she wondered why she felt so incredibly hurt by it all because, really, it was just a silly argument (she had many of those every day) and yet she was so upset about it.

Then, as she calmed down, rational thought seemed to slowly come back to her and she began to regret the argument she'd had with Remus. She felt really guilty about being so angry with him because she should have known he would've reacted like that. He's always been over-protective and he was always stressing how dangerous he was and really he was only worried about her. He was also ill and exhausted from the full moon and Tonks knew he was only upset because he cared about her. And that made her feel incredibly guilty. Sometimes her quick temper stopped her ability for rationality, she thought wryly.

And for the first time ever, Tonks was actually early for work.


	14. Chapter 14: Surprises

**Chapter Fourteen: Surprises**

_**A/N: This is two and a half hours late in UK time but I'm sure you can all forgive me for that! Thank you for the amazing reviews so far! And thanks to everyone who's put this story on their favourites or follows. Reviews are to me what chocolate is to Remus :D ! **_

_Remus POV_

Remus sat on the sofa across from the fireplace, staring at its remains thoughtfully. The fire had long been put out. He was feeling mortified and guilty, really guilty actually and on top of that, he felt like a herd of hippogriffs had stomped over him during the night. All in all, he definitely wasn't feeling very good. And as much as he tried to pull himself from the pensive mood he was in, Dora's hurt expression kept entering his mind and guilt wretched through him. He hated that look of hurt that was on her face. More than that, he hated the fact that _he'd_ been the cause of it.

He'd been rude. She'd actually come to see him, knowing he was a fully transformed werewolf, because she was _worried_ about him. She'd healed his wounds and spoke to him the entire night making it perhaps one of the best full moons of his life. Yet he knew he didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve Dora putting her life in danger just to make sure that he was okay. He was shocked more than anything, that someone actually _cared_ that much about him. And he was shocked by her reaction the night before. She had smiled at him, petted the fur on his head and spoke with him at length. He never thought that anyone would feel anything but disgust and fear when seeing a fully transformed werewolf. Yet she proved him wrong, as she always did.

She spoke to him like he hadn't transformed in to a _monster_. She spoke to him like she wasn't speaking to a_ dark creature_ but just speaking to _him_, as she always did, like nothing had changed; except perhaps his lack of speech. She'd seemed comfortable, relaxed even and if Remus was being honest with himself, he found it quite difficult to handle. Being treated like this was rather a new experience for him and clearly he'd reacted badly to it. He knew that however unintended it was, he'd come across as angry. He'd come across as if he didn't want her there. And he wondered briefly if Dora would ever forgive him for his reaction.

He'd felt panicked though, when he'd transformed back in the morning and remembered that she was there. He felt almost positive that he'd hurt her, even though his memories of the night before were crystal clear. He was certain she'd be terrified, run out of the house now she knew he wasn't going to die. But she'd simply woken up and smiled at him, telling him as always, that she was fine. He'd been angry at _himself_ because he could have hurt her and angry at _her_ that she didn't see just how dangerous he was. Now, however, he wanted nothing more than for her to be here with him.

He sighed dejectedly though he decided he definitely would try to speak to Dora later today. She would be at work now though and he couldn't move right now from sheer exhaustion and his eyes felt very heavy. He lay down on the sofa; the soft fabric was smooth against his body and enticed him in to immediate relaxation. His eyes immediately closed and he was swept to the somewhat peaceful state of sleep.

Remus was snoring lightly, his mind immersed in deep sleep when a knock on the door followed by a crash made him jump up from the sofa, his over-alert reactions allowing him to awaken from sleep so abruptly.

He was startled when Dora entered the room cursing some unknown object, her hair chocolate brown and wavy. He looked at her, his eyes wide in surprise. She was still in her Auror robes and had evidently apparated here straight from work as she looked dishevelled and hurried. Her dark eyes glanced up at him sheepishly.

"Erm… I came over to say I'm sorry" she told him breathlessly as she hazarded a hesitant smile at him. He raised his eyebrows curiously.

"_You're_ sorry?" Remus asked curiously. He genuinely had no idea why Dora would feel guilty when this was entirely his fault and felt somewhat compelled to placate her worry.

"Dora, you have nothing to be sorry for. It's me, I'm sorry; I have no right to be angry with you when you saved me from my imminent death." He smiled audaciously as he used her words and he noticed Dora's cheeks redden before she morphed the chagrin away.

"I just… well… I was scared that you could have got hurt." As she opened her mouth to protest, he continued "I know it's different with Wolfsbane. But there's always a chance, however small, that it might go wrong. And I don't want to take that chance. But, really, I am very grateful that you came over and that you can still stand to be in my company" he told her with complete honestly.

In fact, he was still in shock at Dora's arrival; she never stopped surprising him. He assumed she'd be much angrier at him than she was. He was convinced that after seeing someone as a fully transformed werewolf, nothing would be the same afterwards. And he briefly considered whether this was why he'd been so angry this morning; because he'd thought Dora wouldn't be the same with him. Yet here she was, the same Dora, speaking to him just the same. As he glanced up at her he observed a genuine smile appear on her face.

"You worry too much, Remus" she told him playfully. Her hair had now turned her favourite shade of vivid pink, to which Remus smiled sincerely. "Let's just forget it… How are you anyway?" she asked seriously as she appraised him silently.

"I'm fine, you just interrupted a much-needed sleep actually" he told her light-heartedly.

"My apologies, but sleep is only for the weak anyway, Remus" she said, winking.

"Exactly, hence why I need so much of it right now!" he told her, laughing lightly. She laughed joyfully, her eyes twinkling.

"Oh! Guess who visited me at work today?" Dora questioned suddenly, frowning slightly as the roots of her hair began to slowly morph to a deep red.

"Given the roots of your hair, I doubt it's someone you like very much" he said with his eyebrows raised curiously. Dora examined her hair self-consciously as he smirked at her.

"No. Actually I think it's fair to say that she's one of very few people that I genuinely hate" she said seriously, vivid red having now overcame the pink in her hair. As he analysed her reaction, he realised the person that had turned Dora's hair a fiery red the last time…

"It wasn't Dolores Umbridge was it?" he asked, partly in disbelief.

"Yes! She had the audacity to give me about three tonnes of paperwork as well as help me in my '_analysis of cases, ensuring that all information about a person is_ _considered_'" she said, mimicking Umbridge's high-pitched voice in a derisive tone.

"She's so bloody patronising! _'all information is considered'_ - what she actually wants to consider is how we can be bigoted towards someone based on absolutely nothing" she said heatedly, her hair now shining a vivid red. Remus almost smiled at her indignant tone – almost, though her thoughts on Umbridge were completely valid and he was impressed that Dora was perceptive enough to see through her lies.

"She absolutely hates me" Dora laughed awkwardly.

"Why would she hate you?" he asked, surprised.

"I may or may not have told her what I think about her recent legislation…" Dora said putting on her most innocent face whilst Remus stared at her in disbelief.

"_Dora!_ What-what did you say!?" he spluttered, hoping that she hadn't got herself in to trouble at work.

"That her laws are ridiculous, that she knows nothing about werewolves and that she's practically encouraging them to join Greyback" Dora said matter-of-factly and Remus stared at her in complete shock and awe.

"And she said?" he asked, incredulous.

"She was pretty livid actually" Dora said and he could swear she was quite proud of that. _"Werewolves are dangerous dark half-breeds, you would do well to remember that Nymphadora"_ she mimicked in a derisive tone.

"She has a point" Remus told her, smiling slightly though his tone was serious because, for once, he did actually agree with Umbridge's words. It seemed too easy for Dora to forget how dangerous werewolves actually were… how dangerous _he_ was.

"Shut up!" she said as she nudged him on the arm playfully.

"Really though, did you _have_ to say that to her?" he asked seriously and Dora looked at him strangely.

"Yes I did. Someone had to take her down a notch or two, seriously. Besides, she asked me what I thought and I saw no reason to lie" Dora said proudly and he shook his head.

"What about… Oh I don't know… saving your job?" he asked worriedly and Dora smirked at him.

"Pffft. She doesn't have the power to fire me. And they wouldn't anyway; they need all the Aurors they can get at the moment" she said confidently and he had to smile.

"You're seriously mental. You do know that, don't you?" he said and she smiled with mirth.

"Yes, I have been made aware on a few occasions. But I would have been in a bad mood all day if I hadn't had the chance to say something to her. So really, you should actually be grateful." He raised his eyebrows at her.

Remus considered her for a moment. Once again, she'd surprised him. He couldn't believe that she'd stood up for his kind in front of Umbridge. He couldn't believe the proud way of which she brazenly proclaimed her views. That she'd had the courage to challenge Dolores Umbridge over her legislation awed him. Because the legislation affected his life so much and although she wouldn't change the law, she still made her opinions clear about it. And the fact that she even considered werewolves, considered _him_, worthy of such proclamation surprised him immensely.

"Anyway, do you fancy going over to _Grimmauld Place_?" she asked him suddenly, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah, Sirius will probably be worried. Could you apparate though? I don't think I'm quite up to it" he asked her embarrassedly. But he couldn't risk apparating this close from the full moon, especially if he was apparating with Dora.

"Sure" she smiled and she grabbed his arm and he was pulled in to the familiar uncomfortable squeeze of apparition. They arrived at the doorway of _Grimmauld Place_ and Remus felt rather lightheaded as turned the brass serpent-head door-knob as they entered the dark, dingy hallway.

They entered quietly, and the murky curtains that surrounded the horrible portrait of Walburga Black remained closed, although Kreacher walked past them, sulking.

"_How my poor mistress would think of the scum they let in this house… shape-shifters and half-breeds and freaks!"_ The old house-elf muttered angrily under his breath, though loud enough for both Remus and Dora to hear and she sighed angrily.

"Shut the hell up, Kreacher!" Dora said frowning and the house-elf looked up at her in surprise, not used to this reaction from the usually calm half-blood. Remus smiled at her with his eyebrows raised and she smiled back, rolling her eyes. "Sorry, but he's highly irritating!" she laughed.

They walked in to the kitchen to find Sirius sitting at the table, immersed in the latest edition of _The Daily Prophet_, his eyebrows furrowed together in concentration.

"It's a bad day when you're concentrating on something, Padfoot" Remus smirked at him and Sirius jumped in surprise.

"Oh, hey! Nice of you both to return" he told them wryly.

"Have a look at this" he said to them, annoyance crossing his features as he hands them _The Daily Prophet_. The front cover featured a picture of Dumbledore and Harry and the article itself deemed them both to be attention seekers who'd made up lies about the return of Voldemort in order to further their own interests and to fear-monger amongst the wizarding world. Remus could feel anger course through his veins as he read each word carefully. Although he mostly held a calm exterior, his emotions were intense; he just hid it rather well. His emotions tended to be even more intense when the full moon was either very soon or had just passed.

Sirius took hold of the newspaper, threw it in the bin and smiled brightly at them;

"So Tonks, do you ever have a day off?" Sirius smirked at her in a light-hearted tone as he noticed her Auror robes.

"I do have one every now and then." Dora rolled her eyes.

"Really? Because usually there's some frantic bloody Ministry owl pecking my window trying to get you to come back" Sirius exclaimed seriously, a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"What can I say? They miss my presence!" Dora grinned brazenly.

"Told you they wouldn't fire me, Remus!" she told him, sticking her tongue out childishly whilst he smiled slightly at her. Remus was still in disbelief that she had actually challenged Dolores Umbridge over her anti-werewolf legislation.

"Why would they fire you?" Sirius asked with his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"Remus is under the impression Umbridge could fire me after I argued with her about werewolves" she said, shaking her head and giving Remus that your-being-so-dramatic look to which he rolled his eyes. Sirius howled in laughter.

"That's hilarious Tonks! What did you say to her?" he asked, still laughing.

"It was nothing really. She asked me what I thought of her legislation and I told her it was ridiculous, that she knew nothing about werewolves and that she was encouraging them to join Greyback. Oh and that they were based on her own bigoted beliefs" Dora reiterated to Sirius, who currently seemed to be having a hard time trying to stop laughing.

"That – has – literally – made - my - week" he spluttered in between fits of laughter to which Dora shook her head, smiling.

"Oh I _am_ glad" she said, rolling her eyes.

As they continued to chat, Remus could feel his gaze turn to Dora too often. At her very presence, he seemed to be in awe. He didn't think people could surprise him anymore until he met Dora. Every day she surprised him.

"Remus?" she said suddenly, breaking his reverie.

"Yes?"

"We have guard duty tonight" she reminded him.

"Ugh!" he groaned. He was feeling extremely lethargic and really didn't want to have to do guard duty tonight. He would much rather have spent the night in bed with a good book and a large bar of chocolate – the perfect remedy for after the full moon.

"Oh well that's charming" she said, smirking.

"I didn't mean it like that…" he said quickly.

"I'm joking, Remus" Dora rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about it, I'll cheer you up" she said, a smile tugging on her lips.

He didn't doubt it. Dora _always_ seemed to cheer him up just by her very presence. She seemed to constantly brighten his mood and she had no idea the effect she had on him. He liked Dora… he liked her a lot actually… maybe too much. He couldn't help that his feelings were more than friendly towards Dora but he also knew that he would never act upon them.

Because, in his opinion, Dora deserved much better than he could ever possibly offer her.


	15. Chapter 15: Guard Duty

**Chapter Fifteen: Guard Duty**

_**A/N: Apologies for this being a day late, I just didn't have the time yesterday to post it! Thanks so much for reviews/follows/favourites :). Hope you enjoy!**_

_Tonks POV_

"You're late, Lupin" Tonks said, pretending to frown. He rolled his eyes as he sat beside her. They were situated in the Department Of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic, guarding the prophecy which was made between Voldemort and Harry Potter. It was an interesting place, Tonks thought. Orbs filled with white smoke filled every row of each shelf in the massive room and this was just one of the many rooms contained in the Department of Mysteries. She supposed the name spoke for itself; really, the place even _smelled_ mysterious.

"I apparated two seconds behind you, Dora" Remus rolled his eyes. She turned to look at him. He was definitely still recovering from the effects of the full moon. Dark shadows rimmed his eyes indicating how tired he was. His skin was unnaturally pale and he looked more stressed than he normally did. Even so, he still looked incredibly handsome and Tonks often found her eyes gaze at him almost involuntarily.

"Yup, two seconds late" she said seriously, shaking her head in mock solemnity as she tried not to think about just how cute he looked when he smiled at her.

"I'm sure you survived those two seconds" he said with his eyebrows raised.

"I could have died here without you" Tonks said dramatically and he laughed quietly.

"You'd have been more than capable, I'm sure" he said, smirking.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you… Guess what I brought?" she smiled suddenly whilst Remus raised his eyebrows at her.

"Your wand, I hope" Remus said and she rolled her eyes.

"Very funny… But I also brought chocolate!" She handed the bar of Honeydukes chocolate to him and his face lit up with happiness.

"You are honestly incredible" he said seriously as he took the chocolate. She laughed at his enthusiasm. If in doubt when meeting Remus, it was always best to bring chocolate, _especially_ after the full moon for Remus seemed to be under the impression that chocolate was a cure-all for everything.

"Dora?" She turned at the sudden serious tone of his voice.

"Hmm?" She questioned. He looked as though he was contemplating whether or not to say something and he ran his fingers through his hair; a habit she'd always noticed he'd do when he was nervous.

"Why did you come over last night?" he said gently. She exhaled loudly. This wasn't a conversation she was willing to discuss right now because she didn't want to start arguing with Remus again.

"You're not going to start this again, Remus…" Tonks said to him, frowning but he shook his head.

"No, no, that's not what I mean. I just… well weren't you _scared_ though?" he asked her with a curious yet apprehensive expression.

"Erm… no, not really" she replied honestly because she definitely wasn't scared of Remus, even at the full moon. When Remus was a wolf he was friendly but careful, expressive but guarded and although he looked somewhat fearsome due to his size and stature as a wolf, he was anything but.

"But… What about when you saw me?" He asked her, a hint of disgust in his voice. She looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

"Remus, you were bloody more scared of _me_!" Tonks said pointedly and Remus smiled slightly.

"Not _of_ you, _for_ you" he explained but Tonks looked at him in confusion.

"Why?" she questioned and he frowned;

"I was fully transformed in to a wolf" he explained softly, looking away from her.

"A _timid_ wolf…" Tonks said pointedly and he looked at her in surprise.

"Bit disappointing actually, not the fearsome creature you make yourself out to be, are you?" Tonks said and again, he stared at her in surprise.

"Well… Still… I'm still dangerous" he said although he seemed to know he was fighting a losing battle when it came to Tonks.

"Pfft… Yeah, Remus, I could see that when you were curled up sleeping the whole night" Tonks said, raising her eyebrows.

"You forget that I'm a werewolf, Dora, that still means as Umbridge would say – a dark creature. I don't understand how you can still be around me after seeing me transformed" he said with a sudden, startling honesty. She turned to him and it suddenly made sense to her; this was why he had brought the subject up again, he was quite obviously still over-thinking it.

"Remus you transformed in to a wolf, not a monster" she said truthfully and he suddenly turned to her; his eyes meeting hers.

"No, it's the same thing. I mean with- with the Wolfsbane Potion I might _seem_ more normal, but I'm still dangerous. And without the potion…" He shook his head as if to erase the thoughts that came after this statement.

"Well I didn't think you were dangerous at all. And the fact is you _do_ have Wolfsbane, so stop fretting so much. If you didn't you wouldn't be anywhere near anyone at the full moon, Remus." She told him honestly.

"It's a bit strange" he said, as if to himself.

"How so, Remus?" she said as she grinned at him.

"Well, you don't find it a bit strange that you're comfortable around a transformed werewolf!?" His tone was serious but she laughed lightly; no, it wasn't strange to her at all.

"Not when said werewolf is _you_" She smirked and she noticed a hesitant yet genuine smile appear on his lips. They remained quiet for a while and Tonks could feel her heart hammering in her chest. It was strange actually; there was a certain apprehension in the air, well for Tonks anyway. It seemed since she'd realised… sort of realised her… um… _feelings_ for Remus, she was more nervous around him. Immersed in her thoughts about Remus, she almost didn't notice a light snoring from beside her…

She turned round. His eyes were closed and his face was peaceful. She smiled. Even hours later, when she found herself completely bored, she didn't have the heart to wake him. So Tonks spent most of the night staring at nothing in particular whilst trying to keep her own eyelids from closing. She stole occasional glances at Remus who remained in the idyllic state of sleep for the next few hours. Having bitten most of her fingernails off and gone through several lists of How-To-Annoy-Dawlish-Tomorrow and How-To-Avoid-Mouthing-Off-In-Work as well as mentally arranging her Auror paperwork in groups of 'needs to be done', 'could wait' and 'will never get done', Remus finally woke up. He looked around, unfocussed and confused, before his eyes settled on her. She smiled widely at him.

"How long have I been asleep?" His voice was hoarse and incredibly appealing. She smiled at him.

"Not that long… Well three hours and seventeen minutes to be precise."

"That long!" he exclaimed, wide-eyed. "Sorry, Dora, you really should have waked me" he added, a guilty expression on his face.

"Well if you didn't look so adorable when you're sleeping I would have" she said matter-of-factly and she glanced at him. His cheeks were flushing chagrin and she grinned. For some strange reason, it made her delightfully happy when Remus was blushing embarrassedly.

"So Dora, heard anything else from the delightful Dolores Umbridge?" he said, changing the subject and she smirked again at his embarrassment.

"Nope, she hasn't owled me to fire me as yet Remus so no need to worry" she said sarcastically and he smiled slightly.

She thought back to the argument she'd had with Umbridge the other day.

"_Hem-Hem"_

_Tonks turned towards the door of her office. Tonks' office was a small room situated in the Auror department of the Ministry of Magic. It was sparsely furnished with a desk and an extremely comfortable chair (she'd gotten the chair herself). Her desk was often found strewn with parchment and paperwork and there was several ink stains on the wood. There were two pictures at Tonks' desk. One was of her mother and father, her father's arm around her mother's shoulder as they smiled brightly at each other and smiled lovingly at the purple haired baby in her mother's arms. The other was a picture of her and her two best friends in their last year at Hogwarts. There was her, Hazel who was also in Hufflepuff and Lucinda who was a Ravenclaw and preferred to be known as Lucy. She still kept in contact with her friends although she didn't see them nearly as much as she should. But there's only so much spare time a person can have when they're working full time as an Auror and working for a secret society, not to mention trying to spend as much time as she could with Remus and Sirius. They were her favourite photos ever and sometimes, when she was bored at work, she would just stare at them, letting her mind drift to her childhood. There were also other pictures she'd loved to have put up but couldn't… like one of Sirius and Remus. _

"_Nymphadora, how _are_ you doing?" Umbridge said in a patronisingly bright manner, her voice high pitched and laced with a sickly sweet tone. Everything about Dolores Umbridge was sickly sweet; her sickly sweet pink clothes, her sickly sweet false smile, and her sickly sweet perfume, which filled Tonks' small office and overwhelmed her with its potency. _

"_I'm doing fine, thanks" Tonks answered curtly, hoping that the women would leave so that she could breathe properly again; really, why would anyone need to where that much perfume?_

"_I brought along some new cases for you, Nymphadora. Could you have these forms filled out and in my office by next Monday?" she said sweetly, placing a rather large stack of parchment on her desk. Tonks grimaced and bit on her bottom lip, focussing as much as she could in not saying something rude to the woman and keeping her hair the light brown colour she had chosen for today as she felt red creep in to the roots of her hair._

"_Certainly" Tonks replied, clenching her teeth together._

"_I'm sure this will help in your analysis of cases, Nymphadora. Please remember that you must ensure that all information about a person is considered." Umbridge said pointedly and Tonks bit harder on her bottom lip. She hoped to Merlin that she would leave now for she didn't know how long she'd be able to hold her tongue._

"_Of course" Tonks replied, feeling her face flush in annoyance._

"_Great" Umbridge said and made to leave before turning back swiftly. "Oh, I almost forgot Nymphadora. How are you getting on with the new and much improved laws regarding the regulation of werewolves? I do hope it's led to a capture or two!" she said patronisingly, a sickly sweet grin plastered on her toad-like face. As she was about to reply in a monotonous tone about how the laws were great, she suddenly thought about Remus and an overwhelming anger coursed through her._

"_Those laws… they… they are completely ridiculous! How you can possibly delude yourself in to thinking they're protecting people is beyond me." Tonks even surprised herself with her words. Umbridge looked stunned for a second before plastering the grin back on her face._

"_Nymphadora… I do hope you aren't questioning the regulation of dark creatures. One could be led to thinking your against Ministry policy!" Umbridge replied, her voice an octave higher than usual, which led to the kind of shrillness that could smash glass._

"_You don't know the first thing about werewolves! These… these _laws_ of yours… you have no idea what you've caused" Tonks said, her tone low and dangerous. She couldn't seem to stop the words that fell from her mouth right now. "You claim this is to protect people. I think we all know it's only about your own bigoted beliefs. What you fail to realise, _Dolores,_ is restricting Werewolves' lives so much will only lead them to Greyback. It's not protecting anyone, if anything, your putting people in _more_ danger. You may delude yourself in to believing your policies are for the 'greater good' but you don't fool me" Tonks told her. Umbridge was furious, she could tell that straight away. But she felt better somehow and she realised that this is what she's always wanted to say to Umbridge._

"_Nymphadora, please do not question the laws that govern this Ministry. One may even begin to question where you're true loyalties lie… Let me remind you, Nymphadora, that werewolves are filthy half-breeds who bite and kill normal witches and wizards. They are _dark_ and _dangerous_ creatures. You would do well to remember that. You should be _thanking_ me for these laws" she said, her tone was no longer sweet, but almost manic with fury. And at that, she turned on her heel and left. _

It was only later that she had realised the implication of her argument and she vowed to keep her mouth shut in work in future. She had to convince them as much as she possibly could that she supported the Ministry; that she supported Cornelius Fudge with every ounce of her being. Anything less than that would be dangerous. However, she still couldn't quite bring herself to feel guilty about her words and the look of rage on Umbridge's face. She was, after all, being completely honest and that, more than anything, outraged Umbridge, who was so used to people agreeing with her to avoid confrontation.

"What are you grinning at, Dora?" Remus asked her curiously. Was it bad that every single time Tonks thought about her argument with Umbridge, it made her smile widely and her hair turn bright pink again? She reasoned that it probably was. She also reasoned that she should feel guilty about it, especially because Umbridge would probably be keeping a close eye on her in the future. But still, she couldn't.

"Oh, I was just thinking about my argument with dear Dolores" Tonks replied, smirking.

"Do you think you'll see her tomorrow?" Remus said. He sounded worried. Tonks felt slightly guilty about that. She found it rather sweet that he worried about her for something that was completely her own fault.

"Probably not… Will you stop worrying about it, Remus? Nothing will come of it, trust me" she said in what she hoped was a reassuring tone.

"I feel like it's partly my fault though" he said and she glanced up at him in surprise.

"Why would it be your fault, Remus?" She frowned.

"Well… I assume I'm the only person you know who's a werewolf" he said and she stared at him, confused.

"And that makes it your fault… why?" she asked and he looked thoughtful for a minute.

"I may have influenced your opinions" he said and for reasons unbeknown to Tonks, he seemed to feel guilty about that.

"Not really, Remus. What I said to Umbridge, well I've always believed that… Although I guess my views are even stronger now" she said, smiling.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why have I made your views stronger? Why do you think I'm so… good? I don't get it. I'm not. Werewolves aren't good, Dora" he said and she shook her head. His levels of self-confidence were disastrously low in her opinion.

"If you weren't a werewolf… would you think of yourself as good?" She asked him and he looked surprised by her question.

"That's not the point. The point is that I _am_" Remus said, looking rather perplexed.

"But if you weren't… Just answer the question." She rolled her eyes whilst he looked thoughtful for a minute.

"Well… I suppose so" he eventually said begrudgingly.

"That's the reason, Remus" she explained seriously.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"What I mean is that I consider _you_ as good Remus. The fact that you're a werewolf doesn't actually come in to it at all. That is until you get someone like Umbridge who considers all werewolves as evil and dangerous. Then I think about you and how you're not any of those things at all and yet you are also a werewolf." Tonks glanced at Remus. He stared at his lap, his face a mixture of confusion and awe. Then he turned to look at her. His dark blue eyes locked on to hers with an intensity that made her heart flutter. She thought she caught a glimpse of the affection he held for her in his eyes; but it was gone before she could be absolutely sure.

He cleared his throat. "Dora, it's eight."

Oh. Well, the time had certainly gone in fast. She stood up slowly and stretched her legs.

"Ugh. Merlin I hate sitting down for so long, it gives you a really numb arse!" she said as she began walking to where they would apparate.

"That's charming, Dora" Remus said, smirking.

"Well it is true, though. Care to apparate?" she asked playfully and he rolled his eyes.

"Let's go, then" Remus said as he took her arm.

They arrived at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place shortly after eight in the morning. Tonks wasn't exactly a morning person and she was feeling extremely groggy and tired. She couldn't complain much though because she imagined that Remus felt a million times worse. After all he'd just stayed up all night just a day after the full moon. Then again he had fallen asleep for over three hours. For some unknown reason, even though she had been up for twenty-four hours with barely any sleep in between, she felt extremely restless and over-alert. She sighed loudly as she tossed and turned, wondering why she wouldn't just fall asleep.

It hit her. It came to her slowly and then hit her with the full force of an angry Hungarian Horntail. She was _in love. _Okay, so she knew it was quite soon to say that. She hadn't even known Remus for that long. But in all honesty, she had never felt anything like this in her entire life. He was all she seemed to be able to think about. Every moment she wasn't with him, she was thinking about him.

She was in love… and she had no idea what to do about it.


	16. Chapter 16: The Hearing

**Chapter Sixteen: The Hearing**

_**Apologies for the late posting! Unfortunately I had too many essays to do for uni and also had tonsillitis! Thank you for all reviews/favourites/follows! :)**_

_Remus POV_

It was the day of Harry's hearing and Remus could sincerely say that he was nervous. He was very nervous indeed. He was also not alone it seemed, the house had a very palpable tension in the air even although it was still the middle of the night. Remus was in his room, the darkness of the house penetrated by a single candlelight flickering ominously on the table beside his bed. He had a book in his hand which had remained at the same page since he'd opened it a half hour ago. He stared at the page but the words wouldn't reach him, his mind was too overcome with thoughts of the hearing.

Harry, James and Lily's son, could be expelled from Hogwarts. He hoped beyond hope that that wouldn't be the case. He knew that Harry hadn't done anything wrong; he just hoped that Dumbledore would be able to convince the Ministry. Remus had great faith in Dumbledore, a man whom he held ultimate respect for. He knew that if anyone could convince the Ministry, it would be Dumbledore. Drawing himself from these thoughts, he decided to venture to the kitchen with the notion that there was no point in pretending that he would get back to sleep.

He was surprised to see that Molly, Arthur and Sirius were already up and sat at the wooden table with equal looks of apprehension on their faces. Molly and Arthur were making a feeble attempt at small talk and Sirius was sitting at the far end of the table, looking sullen. He seemed to still be upset about the conversation he'd had with Dumbledore. Sirius had wanted to accompany Harry to his hearing and Dumbledore had understandably decided against it. The tension was even stronger down here in the kitchen, where it seemed to surround him like a thick fog.

"Good morning." He broke the tension.

The three of them suddenly turned to look at him as if they'd been so lost in their thoughts that they'd failed to notice his arrival until then. Molly and Arthur muttered some pleasantries and Sirius barely looked up. He made himself a cup of hot chocolate and took a seat next to Sirius who gave a small and false smile towards him. They all sat in a somewhat awkward, anxious manner where they were mostly silent with the occasional pathetic attempt at normal conversation. He almost wished he'd stayed in bed and pretended to read.

For the next while, he played over in his head what he suspected would happen at Harry's hearing. It was impossible without knowing every detail of who would be there and who would be questioning him and Remus was driving himself crazy by thinking about it constantly. By his own admittance, he is often not the most optimistic of people and is more likely to think about everything and anything that could go wrong.

Lost in his thoughts about Harry's hearing, he almost didn't notice Dora's arrival at Grimmauld Place. Almost being the key word as one could hardly fail to notice someone tripping, shouting "Ouch!" and the place being overtook by the screams of Mrs Black.

"Filth! Shape-Shifters! Half-Blood Freaks!"

For a moment, Remus found it strange that he couldn't decipher whether the portrait of Mrs Black was screaming about him or Dora. Joining her in the hallway, they both managed to shut the drapes swiftly around the portrait and after a minute or so of silence, it seemed that no-one had been woken.

"Sorry, it seems worse when I'm tired" Dora said whilst simultaneously yawning and almost tripping over _again _whicheffectively proved her point. For the first time since he'd woken up, Remus smiled genuinely.

"So I see, come on then, we'll get you safely seated before you hurt yourself" Dora hit him on the arm for this, before following him to the kitchen and sitting down, thankfully without hurting herself in the process.

"How was guard duty?" He was glad someone else was here for him to talk to as Dora seemed more talkative than the other three, whose minds were otherwise preoccupied. She groaned as she kicked off her boots and took her cloak off.

"It was fine, Remus. It's just so boring, I struggled to keep myself awake if I'm honest" she said. Remus noticed that Dora's hair was blonde today and fell past her shoulder in curls. He also noticed that despite her bright smile, dark circles shadowed her eyes and she definitely did look tired. She turned to Sirius and seemed to notice there was something irritating him.

"What's up, Sirius?" She asked to which Sirius just sighed. Noticing how downhearted he looked, Remus attempted to explain Dumbledore's reasoning to him.

"Sirius, you know why Dumbledore…" Remus started but Sirius interrupted;

"I know, Moony, it doesn't make it any easier though" Sirius said testily. "He's… he's James' son. He's my Godson… I should be there for him" he said and behind his anger, Remus saw how genuinely pained this made Sirius. Dora looked over at their exchange with something that looked like sympathy in her dark eyes. Molly looked between the three of them worriedly.

"Tonks, are you hungry?" Molly's voice took on a falsely bright tone. She didn't give Dora the chance to answer however before saying; "I'll make everyone breakfast!" and stood up, smiling too brightly as she began cooking. It seemed to make Molly feel better when she was doing something and she cooked everyone a huge breakfast. Sirius and Dora wolfed the food down hungrily, Arthur and Remus ate a few things and Molly didn't even touch the food she herself had cooked.

At five thirty in the morning, Harry came downstairs. There was surprise in his tired eyes when he saw them all sat in the kitchen and Remus had to admit it wasn't everyday they were gathered in the kitchen before sunrise discussing anything but Harry's hearing. Remus tried to give Harry some supportive words before he left but the poor boy looked terrified. He didn't say much that morning but simply nodded at them when they reassured him before he left with Arthur for the Ministry.

Remus didn't blame him, however. He knew that he must be terrified. Remus had always had the fear throughout his school life that everyone would find out about his condition and he would be expelled. He knew that if that had happened, it would have broken him.

"Are you at work today, Tonks?" Sirius asked conversationally and she looked over at him bleary-eyed and exhausted and shook her head.

"No… at least I'm not supposed to be…" Dora said as she sighed. The last three days that she'd had off work she'd had an owl asking if she would come in anyway. And she had done, she'd said "they wouldn't ask if they didn't need me" and she'd worked long shifts on her days off… No wonder she was so tired. It was, however, a bad sign that the Auror department seemed to be getting busier as the number of Death Eaters increased. Even though they were keeping a low profile at the moment, there was still a huge increase on the use of dark magic and illegal activity. Sure enough, an owl came through the window twenty minutes later and Dora sighed.

"Why do they even give me days off?" she groaned as she took the note from the grey owls leg and handed it a small treat.

"Oh" she said in surprise as she read the note before passing it to Sirius. He silently passed it to Molly who paled before handing it to Remus; no one seemed to want to say the words out loud.

_Harry's trial is an hour earlier, Courtroom 10 and in front of the entire Wizengamot. Dumbledore is here already though, seemed to know they were planning something like this._

_Arthur_

Remus stared at the note in shock, he had never heard of a trial on the use of underage magic being held in front of the entire Wizengamot in a courtroom. It was almost like a full criminal trial. He shuddered at the thought.

"They're treating him as if he's a criminal!" Molly said with her voice an octave higher than usual. Dora glanced over to Molly and gave her a small, reassuring smile.

"Fudge is trying to discredit Harry and Dumbledore, he probably changed it in the hope that one of them wouldn't show up. As they're both there though, his attempts didn't work. So he still has a chance, most of the Wizengamot are probably wondering why they're there as well…" Dora said, looking thoughtful. Remus nodded, glad that she was there to make sense of the situation as Remus' brain felt like a Confundus charm had been placed on him. He was grateful that they _had_ made it there on time though; hopefully they would still have a chance.

It was a tense few hours waiting on the results of Harry's hearing. Remus was trying to remain as optimistic as he could but it really wasn't in his nature. Dora helped a bit though;

"Remus, Sirius, would you two stop fretting and fidgeting! He'll be okay! Come on, he has Dumbledore as a witness and Arabella will testify for him as well. There's no way the Ministry will expel him! Amelia won't let him be expelled if she thinks he's telling the truth" Dora had said to them with a serious tone. None of them had said anything to her but he had felt a bit more positive about it. Dora knew the Ministry and the people in it better than he did and he trusted her judgement; not that it would stop him worrying in any case, but it certainly helped.

It was undeniably a relief to everyone when they found out that Harry had been cleared of all charges. It seemed that the tension that clouded the house that morning cleared as soon as they heard the news. So much so that _Remus_ was the one offering Firewhiskey when the kids had went to bed. Dora raised her eyebrows at him. After a drink or two, everyone seemed to be feeling much calmer. Inside the walls of Grimmauld Place, it was as dark as ever, yet the relief was tangible in the air and felt by everyone inside it.

"It's not like you to be encouraging drunkenness, Remus" Dora said, a playful smile on her face, her dark eyes twinkling. Her hair had returned to her favourite vivid pink shade, though it still ran down her back in loose curls.

"Don't let him kid you, Tonks. Remus was full-scale alcoholic in our sixth year" Sirius said, smirking. He was also looking more relieved although Remus could see that it was bittersweet. You see, for Sirius, Harry was just like James and although he was elated that he could go back to Hogwarts, he was, in a way, disappointed that he wouldn't see him for that entire time.

"Only because you three drove me up the wall…" Remus said with a hint of a smile as he remembered his sixth year at Hogwarts.

"We drove him to sanity… turns out he didn't like it much there" Sirius howled with laughter and Dora joined in.

"Definitely not… It was a scary time" Remus remarked, laughing with them.

"Not as scary as the time you all visited me here at Grimmauld Place" Sirius said, his eyes gleaming with the memory as Remus involuntarily shuddered.

"I can't imagine why you'd come here voluntarily" Dora remarked curiously and Remus laughed.

"It was less of a 'social' visit and more of a 'we-need-to-kidnap-Sirius' visit" Remus told her seriously, to which she laughed heartily.

"It was a fun visit" Sirius said and Remus raised his eyebrows at him.

"Of all the words I'd have used, _fun_ certainly wouldn't be one of them, Sirius" Remus said and Sirius seemed to find great joy in the memory.

"Why not?" Dora asked interestedly.

"Think of the portrait of Sirius' mother, now imagine that in the flesh, pointing her wand at you and telling you that half-bloods were unworthy to befriend a Black" Remus told her trying to convey the exact horridness of that visit, though Dora only burst in to fresh waves of laughter.

"We should definitely have told her about your furry little problem; her reaction would've been hilarious" Sirius said and Remus frowned at him.

"Her reaction would ultimately have resulted in my untimely death, not something I'd find too hilarious" he said and both Sirius and Dora burst in to laughter.

"It was one of the only good things about coming back here" Sirius said.

"You mean to wind your mother up about your werewolf friend?" Remus questioned in surprise.

"Yes! And telling her all about the Order, she particularly loves hearing the blood status of all those involved in the Order and their opinions on muggle-borns." This time, Remus burst in to laughter.

"She enjoys that, yes." He remembered how Sirius had explained the Order to the portrait of his mother, which had literally screamed furiously for an entire three hours, her black hair wild and her dark eyes manic with rage. It was three weeks before she finally stopped screaming about how the Dark Lord would murder them all and she seemed to forget what she was so angry about and instead focussed on the presence of a werewolf in the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black.

"Kreacher does too" Sirius commented.

"He really does" Remus added, smirking.

"Remember what James said to my mother?" Sirius suddenly said and Remus smiled.

"_Mrs Black, your supremacy is destroying my soul a bit; may we just kidnap your son and leave? I don't imagine you'll miss him too much, he is, after all, becoming quite the little blood traitor_" Dora burst in to laughter and Sirius smiled reminiscently. Only James Potter would ever say something like that to Walburga Black's face.

"I still can't believe he said that _to your mothers face_. Even as a portrait she scares the hell out of me" Remus added truthfully.

"He had some nerve though, didn't he?" Sirius said, his tone bittersweet, a sad smile on his face.

"That he did" Remus sighed.

"I miss our days as Marauders" Sirius said and Remus smiled sadly. Those seven years at Hogwarts had been the best seven years of his life. He missed them more than ever; so much that he almost grieved for his schooldays, when everything was simpler and they were all more carefree. None of them had had to worry about Death Eaters and traitors and spies.

"You _were_ pretty notorious, the teachers were still traumatised from you all when I was at Hogwarts" Dora said suddenly, breaking him from his reverie.

"I think Minerva still holds a grudge…" Remus said jokingly.

"But secretly she found us hilarious" Sirius added, smiling.

"Not when we put a dungbomb in the sorting hat she didn't" Remus reminded him and Dora burst in to laughter again.

"That's true" Sirius said, laughing.

"So how did you come up with the nickname 'Marauders'?" Dora asked curiously.

"One day McGonagall told us to stop marauding around the place and it just sort of stuck. James declared we must now be known as the Marauders" Sirius laughed bitterly. Remus smiled sadly.

Marauders they were and Marauders they sometimes still were. But they would never be complete, never be the same, without James.


	17. Chapter 17: Schooldays

**Chapter Seventeen: Schooldays**

_**A/N: Wow, this story has reached an amazing eighty reviews! Thank you all so so much! And thanks to everyone who has favourite-d or followed the story as well :)! Thanks to Guest reviewer from the last chapter who I couldn't PM to thank! **_

_Tonks POV_

It was the day Tonks had been dreading – The first of September, the day the kids went back to school. She was dreading it for her cousin more than anything. Tonks knew the kids had kept Sirius going over the past few months and he would miss them terribly when they were at Hogwarts. The kids of course, were more than excited to be going back to school, especially Harry, who thought he might never have had the opportunity again. Tonks had knowledge however, that Hogwarts might be a bit different this year, and not in a good way. She remembered telling Sirius and Remus about it last night.

_In a haze of anger, Tonks marched in to Grimmauld Place brazenly after finishing work at the Ministry. She walked in to the kitchen were Sirius and Remus were sat. By the look on both of their faces they had obviously noticed her bright red hair and her apparent frustration._

"_Someone's had a good day at work" Sirius said sarcastically, a note of concern in his voice._

"_What happened?" Remus asked worriedly. _

"_Umbridge" Tonks stated simply. Sirius raised his eyebrows at her whilst Remus' expression grew more concerned. He looked over at her with a serious expression in his dark blue eyes. _

"_She's the new Defence teacher" she sighed, not looking at either of them. She was unbearably angry about it all. She never would have wanted Umbridge anywhere near the impressionable minds of the children in Hogwarts. _

"_Oh" was all Remus seemed to muster up in response to this whereas Sirius looked as angry as Tonks felt. _

"_I know. It's ridiculous how they can put her anywhere near children!" Tonks said, feeling even angrier. It also exasperated her that the Remus would be considered 'too dangerous' to teach children when Umbridge was definitely more dangerous. The opinions she held alone was dangerous to young minds. As she glanced at Remus and Sirius, she noticed that Remus wore a dejected expression whereas Sirius was now grinning._

"_What are you grinning at?" she asked Sirius in confusion. He smiled._

"_Moony, what would the Marauders do?" he said, looking to Remus, who looked extremely confused._

"_What?" he said, looking to Sirius with his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. Sirius rolled his eyes._

"_I mean, what would we as the Marauders, have done, if Umbridge was around in our time?" _

"_Um… You and James would have come up with several elaborate pranks that I'd have to not only downscale, but also find the spells for… and we'd probably have had a pretty fun year pranking her." Remus still looked confused, but a faint smile was appearing on his face at the thought of pranking Umbridge._

"_I really don't see where this is going" Tonks interjected, still confused at Sirius' grin. He looked between them both and sighed._

"_Well, of course, we are no longer there. However, the next generation will follow our footsteps… and by the next generation, I mean, Fred and George. I reckon they'll give her hell."_

_Suddenly, all three of them were grinning at the thought. _

She was pulled hastily out of her reverie as she suddenly spotted Molly and Harry walking towards her. She smiled brightly at them.

"Wotcher, Harry!" she said, winking. He looked baffled by her new appearance as an old woman, to which she just laughed. She then noticed that there was a black dog behind them, wagging its tail furiously. She shook her head as she stifled a grin.

As they continued to walk towards Kings Cross, she couldn't help but laugh at the antics of the large black dog. He'd been cooped up for months and was now barking and running manically; she could almost see the smiles and laughter behind his canine exterior. The twenty minutes it took to get to King's Cross were uneventful for everyone but Sirius, who was relishing every moment of his newfound freedom before it was taken from him again. As they reached the station they were met by everyone else and Tonks shared a look of amusement with Remus at Mad-Eye's anger at Sturgis and instructions to the kids. She waved happily at them as the train left, whilst Sirius chased the Hogwarts Express, barking loudly with his tail wagging frantically. She laughed quietly at him.

"Snuffles! Come here boy!" she shouted cheerfully and the huge black dog bounded towards her before sitting at her feet, breathless from running with his tongue lolling at the side of his mouth. She ruffled the fur on the top of his head.

"Come on then, let's see how many cats we can catch on the way home." The dog barked once more, chasing a rogue pigeon at King's Cross and she grinned widely at his enthusiasm. Freedom led to a much happier Sirius and it was with a heavy heart that she walked back to Grimmauld Place. As they had split up to go home on Mad-Eye's orders, Tonks led Sirius home herself and she suddenly had a devious, yet ultimately great idea.

"Hey Snuffles, what'd you say we take a sneaky de-tour through the park?" she whispered conspiringly to the dog who in response barked manically.

"I'll take that as a yes." She rolled her eyes and walked through the large park that was situated near Grimmauld Place. She smirked happily as Sirius ran wildly through the park, barking and frantically digging the ground appearing every bit as dog as he looked. He seemed to be having a lot of fun so she picked up a stick and threw it for him. He caught it and brought it back to her with his tail wagging. She laughed at how canine he was as she threw the stick again and he chased wildly after it. They continued like this, Sirius running freely between the thick forestry surrounding the park, seemingly lost in the wonder of it. Bittersweet was how she would describe it; it was great, more than great actually, to see Sirius _happy_ and _free_. However, she knew, and he did too, that this couldn't last forever.

After letting the manic dog run wild for over half an hour, she sadly told Sirius that they'd better head back to Grimmauld Place. He growled at her with his teeth bared. She rolled her eyes and smacked his ear and he barked in what she assumed was laughter. As they approached Number Twelve, she was greeted at the doorstep by an anxious Remus Lupin who looked between the two of them worriedly.

"Where have you two been?" he asked them suspiciously and she held back a grin.

"Nowhere I'm a slow walker" she said as she morphed back to herself. Remus looked at the two of them with apparent suspicion. Sirius was covered snout to tail in muck and she didn't fare much better. As she realised the appearance of them both, Tonks attempted to quell her smirk but failed dramatically. He raised his eyebrows doubtfully.

"No need to be so sceptical Remus!" she told him dramatically, putting on what she hoped looked like an outraged expression. He rolled his eyes.

"I have to be when it comes to you two, you're untrustworthy when you're together… must be a Black thing" he said and she burst in to laughter. He smiled adorably at her.

"Everyone's in the kitchen waiting for you both" he said as he turned and walked towards the kitchen.

At this point, Snuffles turned in to Sirius and he grinned widely at her, putting his arms around her.

"Thanks, Tonks" he said nonchalantly, though she felt the appreciation in his voice as he hugged her tightly. She grinned at him and they walked in to the kitchen. As everyone in the room spoke though, she noticed the sadness that once again overshadowed her cousin and she glanced at him worriedly.

Later on that night, the house seemed extremely quiet without the Weasley's and the rambunctious kids. Sirius was even more bad-tempered than usual; his taste of freedom seemed to have made him hate the house even more. He'd disappeared to 'feed Buckbeak' over an hour ago. Tonks was sat downstairs on the sofa with Remus sat beside her, trying to give Sirius some space.

"What are we going to do with him?" She said to Remus, who shook his head sadly.

"I don't know. It's difficult for him… Sirius was never the type to sit around doing nothing. He was always in the midst of the action; on the frontline. This… well this is almost as bad as Azkaban to him" Remus told her with an almost-bitter tone.

"I know… I guess getting out today made him feel worse" Tonks said guiltily and Remus glanced up at her.

"No it's not that. I think it's because the kids are gone and he has nothing to preoccupy his mind now. So are you going to tell me where you went today? I certainly don't believe the whole 'I was morphed as an old woman so I had to walk slowly' excuse you told everyone" he said with a slight smile on his face. She rolled her eyes, almost smiling.

"I just let him run around the park for half an hour" she said innocently. At the expression on his face she added "He was bored!" Remus raised his eyebrows at her.

"Dumbledore would kill you" he remarked, though he didn't seem angry.

"I'm more than positive he'd get over it" she said with a slight smile on her face. Remembering very suddenly, what she'd promised herself she'd do tonight, she glanced over at Remus apologetically.

"Damn. I've got to go Remus, I forgot how much paperwork I need to have done by Monday" she said to Remus who looked confused for a second before nodding. She smiled briefly at him before leaving Grimmauld Place and apparating at the Apparition Point.

She arrived at her flat and immediately set up her cauldron, gathering her ingredients quickly. She measured them to the utmost precision and added each ingredient carefully and meticulously to the steaming cauldron. She focussed her attention solely on the cauldron in front of her, sending spells towards it when need be. After an hour, the potion had to be left to brew. Tonks was normally very good at potions and had achieved an 'O' at NEWT level easily but this potion was particularly complex and had taken weeks of careful practice to get right. She was very close to having the mix almost to perfection and was extremely excited at the end result. She was completely determined to perfect the art of brewing the Wolfsbane Potion.

There was, of course, a reason for this. Remus. Whenever she'd spoke to him about the Wolfsbane Potion, she'd realised the safety it provided for him at the full moon. His worried were lessened that he would hurt someone when transformed and he got through the night without hurting himself. Mostly though, it allowed him the control over his own mind, something which until recently had been impossible for him at the full moon. The potion meant a lot to Remus and therefore, it meant a lot to her.

Of course, Remus had Snape making the potion for him at the present time but it was a worry to Remus, and a worry to Tonks, that he most certainly wouldn't make the potion forever for him. The only reason he done it now was because Dumbledore had instructed him to and there was no telling when he would simply stop making it for him. There'd also been an occasion where he'd 'forgotten' to give Remus the potion (conveniently a day after a huge argument with Sirius). In a way, it was helpful for both of them. For Remus, it would provide constant security at the full moon and less unnecessary dealings with Snape. For Tonks, the potion itself was a challenge for her; and she loved challenges. There was also the fact that it would help Remus a lot and this was really the only motivation she needed.

Exactly twenty-four hours later, she added the other necessary ingredients to the cauldron with precision and stirred carefully. Extra care had to be taking when brewing this potion as if it was brewed incorrectly it could be fatal. She had read a lot about the Wolfsbane Potion over the past eight weeks since she'd began trying to brew it and she knew exactly how to tell if it was brewed incorrectly (she had already brewed it incorrectly over a dozen times, practice makes perfect!) She was being extremely cautious though and although it probably took her much longer to brew it than it took Snape, it definitely seemed to be brewing nicely. The last and most dangerous ingredient to be added was Aconite. Just the right amount had to be added to the mixture, too much would kill the drinker and too little would have no effect. She added it with extreme wariness and her dark eyes watched attentively as the smoke from the potion slowly took on a light blue hue. She exhaled loudly and smiled. She was beginning to get it right almost all the time now. She hoped that by the next full moon she would have it perfected enough to relieve Snape of his 'obligation'.

It was definitely something Tonks was proud of; managing to brew the incredibly complex potion. She'd worked so hard on perfecting it and now she had almost mastered it completely – she was becoming quite the potioneer in her opinion! It also made her feel a great relief that Remus wouldn't have to rely solely on Snape at the full moon now. She could tell that it was a worry for him that Snape wouldn't always be around to brew it – or always willing to.

No matter what, she was determined that she would always be around to brew the potion for Remus.

_**A/N: I'm not sure about this chapter… What do you think about Tonks learning to brew Wolfsbane? Do you think that's realistic? I just thought she'd see it as a challenge and something that could also help Remus. :) **_


	18. Chapter 18: Wolfsbane Potion

**Chapter Eighteen: Wolfsbane Potion**

_**A/N: I'm so sorry to everyone for how late this chapter is… I've been trying to edit earlier chapters at the same time! Anyway, so sorry, and to anyone still reading, thanks! Also, thanks so much for follows/favourites/reviews which mean a lot to me :)! Hope you enjoy.**_

_Remus POV_

"Oh for Merlin's sake will they ever move this thing!" Dora's bright yet perceptibly exasperated voice rang out through the hallway and Remus looked at her with a smile tugging at his lips as he grabbed her hands and pulled her gently up from the ground. The murky green 'umbrella' stand stood glaring at them ominously in the hallway whilst Dora scowled at it with her eyebrows low.

"You know Dora, you'd think you would have learned to avoid that by now" Remus said, grinning at her. She turned to him and rolled her dark eyes, looking at him in mock-horror.

"Remus! It's obviously cursed to make me fall over it all the time… It's the _only_ explanation!" Remus chuckled whilst Dora fought to keep her expression serious but her lips quickly formed a smile and she laughed as well. Her smile seemed even brighter today and he thought she seemed to be in an extra good mood today. Her hair was as pink as it always was but there was something about the excitement in her dark eyes which suggested something more.

"You seem to be in an incredibly happy mood" he commented, to which she grinned widely. Her smile alone was always enough to brighten his day.

"I'm _always_ in a happy mood. Besides, I have the weekend off work! What is there not to be happy about!?" Dora beamed cheerfully and he glanced at her with one eyebrow raised. Her expression was definitely too innocent and he knew instantly she was up to something. As for what it was; well he would just have to wait and see.

"I smell chocolate" Dora said suddenly, sniffing the air before looking at Remus with her eyebrows furrowed together in suspicion.

"Chocolate _cake_" he confirmed and she beamed.

"Molly?" She asked and Remus nodded.

"I knew it! I want some" she told him and began wandering airily to the kitchen. He followed her, the smell of baking chocolate wafting from the kitchen. They sat down at the table and Remus cut the chocolate cake. It was as delicious as all of Molly's cooking and he savoured the taste as he bit in to it.

"Where's my joyful cousin?" Dora asked suddenly and Remus frowned.

"Last I saw, worshipping a bottle of Firewhiskey." Dora smiled faintly, though it didn't reach her eyes. Since the kids had gone back to school, Sirius seemed to drink most of his days away, only wanting to speak to anyone when he was drunk. There were some days when Remus caught a glimpse of the old Sirius but they were slowly becoming scarcer. He clung to these moments because the truth was that Sirius was slowly slipping in to an abyss of despair. Remus felt helpless; although he tried again and again to pull Sirius from his depression it seemed that his efforts were futile and there was no way the old Sirius would ever be back completely.

The sound of a light tapping pulled him from his reverie. An owl he didn't recognise was pecking at the kitchen window with certain impatience and he stood up and let it in. It flapped its chestnut brown wings petulantly and dropped the envelope at Dora. The envelope landed directly on her piece of chocolate cake and Remus stifled a laugh as she looked up at the owl in wide-eyed outrage. The owl simply ruffled its feathers disdainfully and flew away. She shook her head, muttering something about 'bloody owls' before opening the envelope. Dora read the letter and looked at what appeared to be a photograph before bursting in to uncontrollable laughter. She handed them both to Remus who read the note himself:

_Hey Tonks!_

_I'm okay, thanks, how are you?_

_Yeah, you're right; Umbridge has definitely got to be the worst teacher we've ever had! Apparently she's even worse than the guy who had You-Know-Who on the back of his head. She won't let us use spells at all so Defence definitely isn't going to be fun this year. I suppose since the position is cursed I'll hopefully have a better teacher next year. Anyway, as proof that it's not all doom and gloom here, I've sent you a picture of… well you'll see for yourself!_

_Hope everything's going okay!_

_Love, Ginny X_

After reading the letter, Remus saw the picture enclosed and he howled in laughter. It showed a very proud-looking Fred and George and their friend Lee Jordan. They were standing in the middle of Umbridge's office which seemed to be filled viciously with the colour pink and an uncountable amount of pictures of forlorn cats. Fred and George had in their arms two Nifflers and her office was now in complete wreckage as the three boys laughed and smiled in to the camera. He couldn't help but find the prank hilarious and if he was honest – worthy of the Marauders.

"Sirius was right" Dora said, a wide grin still present on her face. Remus chuckled again. The thought of Umbridge being terrorised by Fred, George and Lee was almost enough to quell his anger about her teaching there in the first place. The Marauders may not have been in Hogwarts anymore, but at least they were to carry on their work.

Later that day, after another gloomy Order Meeting, Remus' eyes widened and he furrowed his eyebrows together when he saw Dora speaking privately with Snape in hushed tones. He looked over to them with suspicion but Dora gave him a wide smile which suggested she was up to something and Snape just narrowed his eyes and sneered at him as he usually did. And as if that wasn't strange enough, Dora also left immediately after the meeting and didn't come back that night. It was very odd that Dora didn't spend the night in Grimmauld Place – especially when she wasn't working the next day…

The next day, Remus was sitting in the library reading a book about the Unforgivable Curses. As it was from the Black Library it actively encouraged the use of them which Remus found that both interesting and disturbing. He continued to read.

"Wotcher, Remus!" He turned round at her familiar chirpy voice and smiled at her enthusiasm.

"Hi, Dora, how are you?" He asked her conversationally, putting the book down.

"Fine, fine, how are you? And may I ask why you're reading _"The greatest uses of the Unforgivable Curses; guide to the dark arts"?"_ She raised her eyebrows as she took the seat beside him.

"It's interesting" he said whilst she looked at his sceptically. "Have you seen Severous?" Remus asked. He was waiting for Snape to come with the Wolfsbane Potion and he was normally here before now. Although he wouldn't say to Dora, it had played on his mind today. Snape was usually meticulous with his timing but there had been a month where he hadn't made him the potion at all. He was therefore troubled that he might have done the same for this month… and Remus really didn't want to have to go through the full moon without Wolfsbane. It was a completely different – and definitely worse – experience than when he did have it. Losing control physically was always something Remus had to deal with at the full moon, but it was a lot easier when he didn't lose control mentally as well.

"No but I wanted to talk to you about that… Hold on!" Dora's expression was suddenly serious and Remus felt his heart race. She left the room quickly and came back holding a goblet full of Wolfsbane Potion, which he knew instantly due to its smell and the faint blue smoke that exuded from the goblet. He sighed in relief at its appearance though his eyes widened in surprise.

"Snape gave it to you?" he asked Dora in surprise. She shook her head fervently.

"Well no. I made it for you actually… But don't worry I've been practicing for a while and I promise it won't poison you" Dora replied quickly and he looked at her strangely. Remus didn't seem to comprehend this.

"Y-you made it?" he asked her in astonishment.

"Oh don't sound so apprehensive, Remus, I'm actually pretty good at potions! I've been practicing it for almost six weeks, it's definitely right. I guarantee you will _not_ die." She told him light-heartedly and he smiled at her though he was still deep in thought.

"Why-why did you learn how to make it?" he asked her, bewildered.

"Well I wanted to learn how to make it for you. I mean I really don't think Snape will always be there to make it for you, he already begrudges it" She shrugged. "And it was challenging, and I love a challenge" Dora told him brightly, her dark eyes bore in to his and Remus done something that was very uncharacteristic for Remus; he put his arms around Dora and hugged her tightly. He couldn't comprehend that she'd learnt how to make the Wolfsbane Potion for him; just so the full moon would be easier for him. He definitely didn't deserve this sort of kindness from her.

"You shouldn't have. But thank you." He let her go and he felt his face flush, unsure of whether or not he should have done this.

"It's okay" Dora said softly and he noticed she was smiling endearingly at him.

"You don't have to brew it every month" he reassured her. He didn't want to become a burden to Dora and he didn't want her to feel obliged to make the potion every month for him. She shook her head.

"I know I don't _have_ to, Remus, but I _want_ to. Besides, I love making potions" she told him carefully. He smiled at her sincerely. She handed him the goblet and he drank its entirety in one gulp, cringing at its horrible taste.

"Does it taste normal?" she asked him suddenly, concern in her tone.

"If by normal you mean horrific then yes, perfectly normal" he replied and she smiled widely.

"Great!" she said excitedly with such enthusiasm that he raised his eyebrows at her. She smiled innocently and he looked at her seriously.

"Dora, you have no idea how much this means to me" he told her honestly. He found it simply extraordinary that she would go to these lengths for him and he was more grateful than she could ever imagine.

"I do, Remus, that's why I did it." Dora said these words nonchalantly but they were so perceptibly genuine. She would never know that her words would stick with him for a lifetime.

"Remus… Remus!" Dora whispered loudly and he awoke groggily and he stared at her bleary-eyed. He raised his eyebrows at her tiredly and she grinned. It was the morning after the full moon and he hadn't expected to see her here this early. She was there though, appraising him concernedly with her hair a shade of very light pink.

"Oh Thank Merlin. I'm so glad you're not dead!" Dora told him brightly and he furrowed his eyebrows together.

"Look that bad, do I?" His voice sounded woozy and hoarse, even to his own ears.

"I was just hoping my potion hadn't killed you actually" she said playfully, though there was a serious undertone in her voice.

"I didn't realise that was a possibility" he said as he laughed slightly.

"Not really. I was just paranoid in case it had too much Aconite in it." He actually hadn't thought about the potion going wrong. Remus didn't doubt her abilities in the slightest.

"I distinctly remember you promising you wouldn't poison me…" he said to her light-heartedly.

"Well you're still here aren't you?" she told him matter-of-factly and he couldn't help but smile at her.

"True enough."

"Told you Remus, you're now speaking to a skilled Potioneer" Dora said brazenly.

"I can't argue with that!" He answered, slowly drifting back to sleep, noticing Dora rolling her eyes at him before he was swept in to sleep.

When he awoke, Dora was still there, sitting on the sofa opposite him. She was reading a book entitled: _Defensive Spell Book for Aurors._

"Dora?" His voice was hoarse. She looked over at him, putting her book down. "I wanted to say thanks" he told her and she raised her eyebrows.

"For what?"

"For the potion" he said. She had faithfully brought him it for seven days before the full moon and he was more than grateful for it.

"Oh. It's fine Remus. Plus you've said thanks like twenty-nine times." She laughed.

"I felt grateful twenty-nine times then." She smiled widely.

It was more than the potion, but that she was willing to make it _for him._ He thought back to what she'd said; _"I really don't think Snape will always be there to make it for you…"_ and suddenly realised the meaning of her words… that she would be.

_**A/N: Rushed this a bit to get this updated… let me know what you think!**_


	19. Chapter 19: Early Christmas

**Chapter Nineteen: Early Christmas**

_**A/N: Slightly later than I'd hoped, but this chapter is longer than most of my others :), as always, thanks so much for your support through follows/favourites & reviews, means so much! I can't believe it's over 100 reviews! And special thanks to the two guest reviewers on the last chapter who I couldn't PM to thank!**_

_Tonks POV_

"Sirius! Sirius!" Tonks shouted up the stairs, her tone harsher than intended. A minute or so later, a scruffy face appeared over the dust-covered banister. He raised one eyebrow at her tiredly and she frowned.

"Come downstairs" she shouted up to him, almost pleadingly.

"No" he said sullenly, just loud enough for her to hear and retreated back in to the darkness upstairs. Tonks sighed and walked upstairs. She carefully opened the door to the room she knew he was in. Immediately, Buckbeak squawked angrily at her and she suddenly realised she was too close to the creature. Tonks slowly took a few steps back before bowing low to the ground, focussing on the Hippogriff's brilliant orange eyes. Buckbeak considered her for a moment before it too bowed low to the ground. She smiled and walked towards the creature, petting his head gently. Buckbeak let out a contented sound that was almost like loud purring. She stroked his head softly a few times before turning her attention to Sirius.

He was sitting on the bed, his back against the wall, looking in the opposite direction of her. His skin was white and almost translucent, and she'd never saw someone look so exhausted with life. She sat on the edge of the bed and crept closer to him until she was sat right beside him. He turned round and his lips tugged to give an almost-smile which she took to be a good sign.

"So, either you come down or I stay up here." Sirius rolled his eyes and strangely asked her what date it was.

"November twenty-second, why do you ask?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"Oh, good" he said; his tone brightened slightly and he plastered a smile on his face. "You and Remus go and get Christmas decorations, let's make this place look a bit… _better._ Oh and we've ran out of Firewhiskey." It took Tonks a second or two to register that Sirius was serious before she broke in to a bright smile. He continued; "Oh wait, I'll write you a list since I can't pick the stuff myself." She was surprised to find that he sounded excited, instead of bitter, and she hung on to his new mood like it could dissipate at any moment. She agreed with him and practically ran downstairs to get Remus, almost losing her footing on the stairs.

"What are you so happy about?" Remus questioned as she arrived in the kitchen with a huge smile on her face.

"Sirius is in a slightly-better-than-usual mood. Come on, we're going to Diagon Alley." Remus looked at her strangely and she quickly explained what they were doing.

"Right, okay… Oh, Dora, you have a letter" he said, handing her an envelope. The neat, cursive handwriting gave it away immediately that it was a letter from her mother and she ripped it open hurriedly.

_Nymphadora,_

_I do hope you're okay as I haven't heard from you at all this week. I was expecting you would visit today as you said but I assume you must be busy. Please let me know how you are, honey. You know I worry._

_Mum. _

Oh. Tonks inwardly cringed and put her hand on her forehead. She had stupidly forgotten she was supposed to visit her parents today and was feeling more than a little guilty over her mum's letter.

"Change of plan, Remus" she said suddenly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I forgot I was supposed to visit my Mum and Dad today. Letter's from my Mum." She said, showing him the letter. He nodded thoughtfully. "So if you go to Diagon Alley with Sirius' list and I go and visit my parents and then we meet back here. The three of us can decorate the place then maybe have a few drinks?" Tonks said and Remus agreed, grinning.

"Oh but Remus, there is one condition… you have to stay awake until I fall asleep" Remus looked at her in confusion.

"What?" Tonks rolled her eyes.

"Well I was left myself the last time! You two better get in to the party spirit… and I'm bringing cocktails"

"Cocktails?"

"Firewhiskey is disgusting."

"Okay I will stay awake until you fall asleep and you can bring cocktails."

"Great, this'll be fun! See ya later, Remus." Tonks said as she happily left Grimmauld Place.

As she approached her familiar childhood home, Tonks was startled when she recognised that there were more protective wards surrounding the house than usual. As she crossed through them, she felt oddly sad about their presence. Unable to shake the somber feeling the presence of the wards gave her, she strode in to the house, not bothering to knock.

"Mum!" She shouted loudly and her mum came through to the sitting room immediately. Tonks smiled at her mum who gave an enormous grin in reply. Andromeda rushed over, hugging her daughter tightly and Tonks rolled her eyes playfully.

"You decided to visit?" There was an exasperated note to her voice though Tonks could tell she was so happy to see her she'd almost forgot to be angry.

"Sorry, I've been really busy at work and with the Order." At her mother's troubled look, she quickly added, "…which is nothing to worry about and no excuse really. I promise I'll visit more often."

"It's good to see you Nymphadora. How are things?" she smiled.

"Mum, please don't call me _Nymphadora._ Yeah, everything's fine!" Tonks told her and she gave her a knowing look which made Tonks sigh.

"Well not _fine_ as such… but y'know, not too bad… yet." She told her mother. She tried to downplay her work and the Order as much as possible to her mother. Tonks already knew how much she worried and knowing the real amount of danger involved was neither beneficial to Andromeda or Tonks.

"I worry about you, Nymphadora." Andromeda's brows were furrowed together and her dark eyes looked concernedly to her daughter. With such a serious tone, there was no berating for using her first name.

"Mum, I'm fine… Don't worry about me." Tonks told her mother brightly, attempting to reassure her. Andromeda smiled at her but her eyebrows were still furrowed together in worry.

"How's Sirius?" Andromeda asked.

"Um… he's okay. I mean, he doesn't like being stuck in the house, I think he's a bit depressed over it." Her mother nodded in understanding.

"I can imagine. Sirius was never one to watch the action, he was always at the forefront of it… usually causing trouble, but that's Sirius for you." She smiled in reminiscence of her cousin.

"You and Sirius were quite close?" Tonks asked.

"I was the only cousin that could hold a normal conversation with Sirius after he was sorted in to Gryffindor. Then when I was disowned for marrying your father, Sirius was the only one to speak to me"

"Blood traitors of the family"

"Exactly… And Sirius was a lot more proud about it than I was"

"Marrying me was the best thing you ever did, 'Dromeda." Tonks grinned at her father's arrival and rushed to give him a hug.

"I don't know, I could have married a cousin… we are a pretty bunch" Andromeda stated playfully. "I mean… _those filthy muggles_…" She started in a derisive tone before all three of them burst in to laughter. It was always strange when her mum imitate the rest of the Black's.

"It's surprising how horribly well you pull that off, Mum" Tonks said light-heartedly.

"Considering my family background, you're lucky I don't speak like that all the time"

"Pfft, you were always destined to be a blood traitor" Ted replied.

"Probably… not as much as Sirius though. I knew he would be a blood traitor when he was about five!"

Tonks stayed for a couple of hours, catching up with her mother and father. It was great to enjoy a homemade meal from her mother. As much as she loved Molly's cooking, there was something sentimental about her Mother's cooking, almost like it brought a piece of her childhood with every meal. She arrived back at Grimmauld Place feeling more contented and with a full stomach.

"Oh and about time as well!" Sirius shouted as soon as she walked through the door. She raised her eyebrows as she walked through the hallway.

"Oh nice" Tonks commented as she observed the Christmas decorations with wonder. There was Holly everywhere, lining the bannister and even the horrific portraits seemed slightly cheerier with Holly framing them. As she walked around the house, she noticed there was small Christmas trees in every room, real trees as well, the scent of pine proved this. As she looked above her, she also noticed that there was Mistletoe tied in pretty red bows on the ceiling. It hung so low that as she walked past it, she felt it tickle the top of her head. She walked in to the kitchen to see Sirius and Remus beginning to decorate a huge, yet bare tree.

"Well I _am_ impressed" Tonks commented honestly.

"It's amazing how beautifully and speedily Sirius can decorate this place when he knows there's a bottle of Firewhiskey at the end of it" Remus said light-heartedly. Sirius smirked.

"What else is there to look forward to, Moony?" Sirius replied with a slight smile on his face. "Anyway" he added. "Let's finish the tree so I can start that bottle."

With the three of them there and the help of some magic, it didn't take long before the tree was decorated perfectly, and although it wasn't even December yet, the Christmas cheer seemed to penetrate the walls of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. It wasn't long before Sirius cracked open the Firewhiskey. It also didn't take very long before they had drunk, between them, two bottles of cocktails and two bottles of Firewhiskey.

"Next bottle" Sirius slurred cheerily. Tonks laughed as looked at the bottle through half-shut eyes. He swerved from side to side, trying to pick up the bottle of Firewhiskey, an eternal struggle between wit and intoxication.

"You sure you're capable to pour us a drink?" Remus asked him seriously, though he didn't look any more capable himself.

"Pfft, of course I am" Sirius commented, trying to unscrew the cork and failing completely.

"Give it here" Tonks said impatiently, grabbing the bottle and getting the cork off first time. She smiled proudly before pouring the smooth amber liquid in to three glasses. She frowned as she noticed it pour on to the table as well as the glasses but she didn't seem to care much anyway. She dizzily handed them the glasses.

In what seemed like moments, Tonks turned round to find Sirius comatose on the table; his snoring would rival that of a dragon. Remus was nowhere to be seen. Confused, she left the kitchen and searched for him. The walls seemed to bounce off her and keep her relatively upright as she went and she eventually found Remus in the library, sleeping. She shook his shoulders harshly.

"Our deal, Remus, about sleeping and not doing it" she told him seriously and he looked at her, half-awake.

"I'm not sleeping" he said.

"Oh I meant to ask you something, did you… how did you learn to brew Wolfsbane?" Remus slurred. She smiled at him. She told him that she'd learnt the potion from books and how she'd learned about how it can go wrong.

"No, no, but you brewed it for me." Tonks stared at him in confusion, wondering whether she was just drunk or if he genuinely didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"Yes?"

"You surprise me" he said strangely, his eyebrows furrowed together in thought.

"In what way?" she asked, sure by now that he definitely wasn't making any sense, regardless of the amount of alcohol she'd had.

"In every way…"

"Don't be too specific Remus"

"No I mean everything about you, everything you do." She raised her eyebrows at him tiredly, waiting for him to continue. "You're different from everyone else. You don't… you didn't even react when you found out what I was then you turned up at the full moon even though you knew I would be transformed because you were worried about me. Then you learned to brew Wolfsbane for me. It's just… well… surprising."

"Remus, that's what friends do for each other. There's plenty you've done for me as well, there's no difference"

"I'm a werewolf..."

"Well that's what I do for friends Remus… even friends that turn furry when the moon is full." She stuck her tongue out at him playfully and he grinned tiredly; his smile was so genuine, so adorable, that she almost felt privileged to receive it.

"Consorting with dark creatures, Dora… I'm pretty sure that's a crime" he said to her teasingly and she grinned.

"I know but I am the rebellious type" she slurred with confidence.

"A rebellious-type Auror…" he questioned.

"There was always going to be one" Tonks shrugged.

"The one and only" Remus said with a huge grin on his face.

Remus then suggested that they go downstairs and wake Sirius up. Tonks thought this would be a great idea, plus the fact that Sirius would definitely wake up if he knew there was more Firewhiskey. Remus walked forward slightly before turning to her.

"Are you coming?" Tonks nodded, walking towards him, swerving as she went. Suddenly, as she was concentrating completely on walking properly, she felt herself fall.

As she stumbled forward, he caught her arms, pulling her up. Bleary eyed, she looked at him and was struck by how handsome he was, his blue eyes sparkling in the dim light. She suddenly felt a familiar tickle and glanced up slightly to notice the Mistletoe above them. At the same time, she saw Remus look up as well. They glanced at each other and without hesitation she moved closer to him, their bodies almost touching.

"Mistletoe" he whispered and leaned towards her, pressing his lips softly against hers. Even through the drunken haze surrounding her, there was no way she'd forget this moment. He put his arms around her and she melted like snow at his touch.

"_Thank Merlin for Mistletoe" _she thought suddenly.


	20. Chapter 20: Tension

**Chapter Twenty: Tension **

_**A/N: I apologise so much for how late my updates have been recently, but I started a new job and they've given me loads of hours so I've barely had any time to write! Anyway, thank you all who're still sticking with this story! Thanks so much to the reviewers/followers and favouriters, it's all very much appreciated. Special thanks to the two guest reviewers of the last chapter who I couldn't PM to thank. Hope you enjoy! :)**_

_Remus POV_

For definitely not the first time, Remus awoke in Grimmauld Place feeling exhausted, groggy and with a horrific headache that made him want to personally seek revenge on the inventors of Firewhiskey. He groaned loudly, rolling over in the bed and pressing his face in to the pillow, trying to suffocate the hangover. Just as he thought he might drift back in to the pleasant world of sleep, flashbacks from the night before began to unexpectedly appear in his mind.

He sat up suddenly – too suddenly, he thought, as dizziness overcame his mind momentarily. His eyes widened; He had _kissed_ Dora. Although it was something he'd wanted to do for a while, it didn't stop him from being in a state of disbelief over his own actions. There was mistletoe, he supposed, so that excused him a tiny bit. However, he felt more than sure that Dora would be appalled by the fact that they'd kissed. She'd kissed a _werewolf_, and in his experience, that was never something one wanted to brag about. In fact, he imagined she'd be deeply disgusted that they'd kissed. He sighed deeply; in that moment, he wished for nothing more than for the ground to swallow him whole.

Unfortunately it was not to be. The perpetual growling of his stomach eventually managed to remove him from the comfort of his bed. He walked downstairs, careful to be as quiet as he could in order to let Sirius and Dora sleep. The ever-creaking stairs made it almost impossible but he heard neither one of them stir. He made himself breakfast and raided the cupboards in search of a hangover potion – he cursed Sirius when he found none. Just as he was considering going back to bed, Sirius himself appeared in the kitchen. He was a horrifically grey colour and he didn't even register that Remus was there before opening the cupboards frantically, his eyes scrunched up.

"If you're looking for a potion, you've drank them all" Remus told him tiredly, his voice hoarser than ever. Sirius looked over at him and sighed. Then his face brightened slightly, a conspiring look on his face.

"So what did you and Tonks get up to last night?" he asked with a mock innocent smile. Remus inwardly cringed, wondering if Sirius already knew about it.

"What do you mean?" he asked as nonchalantly as he could manage.

"Did you find any mistletoe?" Sirius said in a suspiciously light tone, his face breaking in to a grin. Remus narrowed his eyes at him and Sirius barked a laugh. With some thought, Remus suddenly came to a very startling revelation.

"It was you!" he accused, looking directly at Sirius. "You put mistletoe bloody everywhere" he said, his voice louder than usual. Sirius gave him a look which suggested he was outraged at the very accusation of him putting mistletoe everywhere. He didn't hold this for very long though, before he burst in to laughter, his shoulders shaking with amusement.

"I'm glad you find it amusing" Remus groaned, inwardly cursing Sirius for the second time that morning.

"Well I'd be dead before you'd make a move, Moony" Sirius smirked.

"And for good reason…" Remus murmured. Sirius shot him a scathing look and Remus sighed. There was something wrong with Sirius if he'd be happy to see his cousin – so bright and full of life, with him, who was the complete opposite. Nevertheless, the whole event had put a dampener on his day. It was not because he didn't want to be with Dora, no, it was because he did… more than ever. He wished he didn't feel that way, that he'd be happy being just friends with her, but he had never felt this way about anyone before; it was a new emotion, so strong and unprecedented, that frankly, it brought a whole new fear to him.

He decided then that he'd have to distance himself from Dora, to protect her from what he was. He couldn't let his feelings be known to her and he couldn't let himself ruin her life. It was painful, it really was, but he knew it would be better for her and in a way that satisfied the new emotion slightly. Locked in his throbbing thoughts, he didn't even notice Dora come in to the kitchen.

"Good morning" she said half-heartedly, her voice not nearly as bright as usual. He quickly glanced over to her. Her hair was her natural chestnut brown and ran down her back in waves; this time however, she seemed to have bright pink streaks in her hair.

"What's with the crazy hair?" Sirius immediately asked and she grinned tiredly at him.

"Too hung-over to morph it completely, brown's too boring on its own" she explained seriously. Sirius barked a laugh and Remus supressed a smile at her vibrant hair. "Please tell me there's some hangover potion somewhere…" she pleaded.

"There's none left, blame Sirius" Remus told her, his voice slightly shaky. Her dark eyes caught his for a moment before she turned her gaze to Sirius, scrunching her face at him.

"Tonks, you make some. If you can make Wolfsbane you can definitely make a simple hangover potion" Sirius smirked at her. Remus jerked, becoming more painfully aware of how much she'd done for him, and how much he truly didn't deserve her kindness.

"I would make it… if I wasn't so bloody hung-over" Dora complained, resting her head on the table. Sirius barked a laugh. It didn't take much longer until Sirius' constant whining and begging led Dora upstairs to brew a hangover potion. Remus shook his head.

"You're unbelievable…" he remarked to Sirius, who simply grinned tiredly at him.

"You've not said much this morning, Moony" Sirius commented, looking at Remus with his eyebrows furrowed together. Remus shrugged… He was far too tired to delve in to a huge discussion with Sirius, who would ultimately disagree with everything he said.

The hangover potion took away the throbbing in his head and the churning in his stomach but he still couldn't help but think about the night before. And he found that he didn't speak very much at all that morning; he was too absorbed in his own thoughts. With the full moon lingering just a few days away, he was already feeling the effects. The moon phase didn't particularly help his emotional state either. Dora kept looking at him strangely as well, as if she wanted to say something to him but didn't know how. He was also working pretty hard to avoid _that_ conversation.

He did wonder what she wanted to say to him though; he imagined she might speak to him about last night and although he already vaguely knew what she'd say, for some reason he thought it would hurt more to hear it straight from her. He noticed that her pink streaks had faded throughout the day and he thought she actually seemed more tired when she went to bed than she had that morning. There had been an awkward tension in the house all day and he felt like he was the main cause of it.

"You're so moody today, Moony, is it the moon?" Sirius asked him suddenly; his voice sounded worried.

"'I'm fine" Remus told him absentmindedly to which Sirius raised his eyebrows knowingly.

"Ah, it's about Tonks… that's why you've barely said two words to her all day" Sirius said. Remus looked at him suddenly.

"That… that wasn't intentional" Remus said hurriedly. Although he knew he hadn't been overly talkative today, he didn't want to appear rude towards Dora. That was the last thing he wanted.

"You know, mate, I think she really likes you" Sirius told him. Remus looked over to him and was surprised to find that his expression was serious. He shook his head quickly, his face screwed up in confusion. There was no way that was possible.

"No, really, she seems sort of… besotted. I know what she's like… and I've never seen her like that before" Sirius told Remus honestly. Remus stared at him for a minute or two, trying to decide whether he was actually being serious or not. Having decided that he was, in fact, serious, Remus rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"No, you're definitely mistaken Sirius. That's impossible" Remus decided. He knew for certain that Sirius was mistaken. There's no way that Dora would think of him as anything more than a friend.

"Why is it impossible?" Sirius asked blatantly.

"This conversation is over" Remus said as he stood up, deciding that there was no point in having this discussion with Sirius.

"You'll have to face Tonks at some point, Moony. In fact, tomorrow night, you're on guard duty with her, remember!" Sirius called out to him as he left the room and headed for the stairs, his head throbbing worse than ever before.

Sirius had reminded him of the guard duty he had tomorrow night with Dora, which he'd completely forgotten about. It would be hard, he thought, to keep his distance from her when that was the last thing he wanted to do. After last night, though, that might be exactly what she wanted to do. He sighed deeply. The carefree friendship they'd both had might never be the same again…

_**A/N: Okay, so I know it's probably not the fluffy next-morning thing you might've had in mind and I feel really bad posting this after it took so long for them to have their first kiss but I just really do think that Remus would more likely be like this than all romantic in the morning. What do you think? **_


	21. Chapter 21: Regret?

**Chapter Twenty-One: Regret?**

_**A/N: As always thanks so much to my previous reviewers and to anyone who has followed or favourited this story! And thanks to Lizzybennet16 and Guest who I couldn't PM to thank! :)**_

_Tonks POV_

Tonks sighed loudly. She had just finished her shift and was waiting on the right opportunity to sneak down to the Department of Mysteries to begin guard duty. She cringed as she thought about it; she was absolutely dreading guard duty. Normally she didn't mind it, in fact, when it was with Remus; she usually looked forward to it. But Remus had hardly said two words to her since they'd kissed whilst drunk the other night, and he was absolutely and completely avoiding her.

He regretted it; that much was _obvious._ Yet Tonks couldn't help but feel annoyed at him... after all, _he_ had kissed _her_ and now, well now he was barely even speaking to her. She took one last look around the atrium, observing it carefully, before heading down to the Department of Mysteries.

Of course, Remus was already there.

"Hi, Remus," Tonks said somewhat awkwardly when he didn't immediately notice her arrival.

"Uh... Hi. How are you?" He asked her, although he didn't quite make eye contact with her. It continued this way for a while, Remus being quiet yet civil and Tonks being overly-talkative yet awkward. It was irritating her to no end. Every forced smile and short answer was cutting at her and making her more annoyed by the minute.

Tonks is impatient. She will freely admit that. Patience was certainly not the trait that got her sorted her in to Hufflepuff. So she couldn't help herself when she eventually threw her head back, emitting a loud sigh in to the silence surrounding them.

Remus turned to face her, his eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.

"Don't pretend, Remus! This is getting old now. _You_ kissed _me._ If you regret it that much, you could just say!" She huffed, feeling the roots of her hair change colour and trying to concentrate on keeping her hair pink. She sometimes hated how much her hair gave her emotions away.

He remained silent for a while… Tonks was beginning to think he was just going to ignore her completely when he eventually answered.

"I don't," he said slowly. She turned to him with one eyebrow raised in his direction. "I don't regret it," he clarified, still not looking at her. She said nothing. If he didn't regret it, then why was he acting so strange?

"Why would you think that?" he asked her, his voice soft and confused, his expression serious.

"Well Remus you've barely spoke to me since the other night," she told him bluntly. He looked surprised; confused even.

"I- Well I thought you might want some space… from me," he said quietly.

"Why would you think that?" she said, repeating his words.

He didn't answer her at first. He seemed to be mulling over what he wanted to say. She thought about it for a second or two before it finally came to her.

"Oh!" she said suddenly. "You think _I _regret it," she said and by the expression on his face, she had guessed correctly.

"Why wouldn't you?" His voice sounded almost guilty and he averted her gaze completely.

"I don't," she told him bluntly in a tone she vaguely hoped was reassuring.

"I'm a werewolf," he told her, his face scrunched up in a familiar look of guilt and shame, almost as if he was telling her it for the first time. She exhaled slowly.

"You seem to tell me that quite a lot even though I already know…," she told him and he glanced over to her.

"I kissed you," he told her, this time his emotions were hidden and he remained expressionless. He seemed to always be trying to hide his emotions and Tonks could never understand why.

"I was there when that happened," she reminded him with her eyebrows raised.

"I thought you would react differently" he said as though it came as more than just a surprise that she'd reacted the way she did. Remus confused her immensely sometimes and this was definitely one of those occasions. She asked him what he meant by it and he seemed a bit reluctant to tell her. He eventually sighed.

"Well… I thought that you might be disgusted… by, well… by me," Remus told her and if it was possible, she felt even more confused by him.

"What!?" she exclaimed in shock. "I kissed you back if you remember correctly" she reminded him and a phantom of a smile appeared on his face momentarily.

"Yes, I know, but you were drunk and… never mind," he sighed.

"No, no, no. I do mind. I am not disgusted by you and I never will be."

Remus had flushed a bright red colour and was avoiding her gaze as much as possible. He nodded to her but she knew by his expression that he didn't truly believe her. She opened her mouth to speak to him but he shushed her, scanning the place quickly with his eyes wild. He moved himself closer to Tonks, making sure that the invisibility cloak covered them both completely.

There were footsteps; two sets. They were quiet at first, but they were getting louder; whoever was there was getting closer. She noticed the shadows coming closer to her and she tried as much as possible to keep perfectly still and keep her breathing as slow as possible. Her eyes widened when she noticed who it was though.

It was Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy. _Why did it always have to be Bellatrix?_ She was the one person that Tonks was terrified of, the _only_ person. Instinctively, she grabbed Remus' arm, holding on to him tightly as possible as she tried to keep her nerve. He said nothing and they both continued to observe her two aunts. As she stared at them, she couldn't help but notice her own resemblance to the two women. Her mother was very like her sister and Tonks shared their dark eyes and sharp features.

"What exactly are we looking for, Bella?"

"Shh," the other woman said manically. "There could be spies," she said and Tonks' grip on Remus tightened. They were going to be discovered. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it might pop out of her chest. She concentrated fully on breathing and how they would duel these two should they be discovered. As she focussed fully on her Auror-like thoughts, her breathing slowed and she felt herself enter professional mode.

Bellatrix and Narcissa walked around, their eyes searching the place. At one point, Bellatrix' dark eyes stared right at them, seeming to bore right in to Tonks'. Tonks could feel the nervous energy build inside her and her hand twitched momentarily towards her wand. Bellatrix turned the other way, however.

"There's no one here," Narcissa said, looking impatiently towards her sister.

"We're here to find the prophecy the Dark Lord requires, Cissy," Bellatrix told her sister haughtily. They went further in to the room filled with the mysterious orbs. Remus motioned for Tonks to stand up with him but she was momentarily frozen as she stared at her aunts. She hated the fact she was related to them; people often thought she would be like them. Throughout her Auror training, her loyalties were always questioned because of the Blacks. Tonks was nothing if she wasn't loyal.

Remus put his hand on the small of her back and she got up, both of them following the two sisters. They walked around the room for about ten minutes before they found what they were looking for, Tonks and Remus keeping a safe distance behind them.

"Cissy, here, it's over here!" Bellatrix whispered loudly and manically, her face filled with excitement. Narcissa ran over and smiled when she saw what they'd been looking for.

"We'd better inform the Dark Lord it's still here," Narcissa said to her sister, a flicker of fear momentarily crossing her face. She smiled at her sister and they both walked out of the room, looking very proud.

"No filthy spies here either," Bellatrix declared proudly and Tonks almost managed a smirk at that. The two sisters exited the room in to a cover of darkness. They were gone more than five minutes before Tonks could finally breathe again; her and Remus sat down again on the cold floor. Tonks said nothing, still frozen in a state of near-panic. Tonks was never like this on missions, she was always perfectly calm and unafraid but there was something about those two, especially Bellatrix, which absolutely terrified her.

"Are you okay, Dora?" Remus asked her gently. She realised she was still clutching on to his arm. She quickly let go.

"Yeah, fine" she told him, though he looked at her with obvious worry in his eyes.

"Tell me, Remus… Do you think I'm like them?" she asked him suddenly. "Be honest" she warned.

"I always am" he said seriously. "You couldn't be any less like them" he told her seriously. She looked at him, her eyebrows scrunched together, unsure of whether or not to believe him. "You do have their eyes. But, in terms of character, you're the opposite" he told her honestly. She smiled.

"I believe you… thousands wouldn't" she said to him playfully. "How's your arm?" she suddenly said when she noticed red whelps where she'd gripped him.

"I'll survive it I'm sure," he told her.

"Good" she smiled. "Sorry, I'm not usually such a useless mission partner," she said with an embarrassed smile.

"I distinctly recall you saving my life on our last mission, then again the next night," he said light-heartedly. She grinned at him.

"Remus?" Tonks asked carefully.

"Dora?"

"I meant what I said earlier," she told him seriously.

"About what?" Remus asked cautiously though she thought he knew what she was talking about.

"That I could never be disgusted by you," she told him.

"Oh…"

"And yet you still don't believe me," she said; it was a statement, not a question.

"It's not that…," he started, though he said no more on the matter.

"You're so stubborn…" she said, but in that moment, she decided to show him that she was anything but disgusted by him. So, with her heart beating rapidly against her chest and nervous butterflies fluttering in her stomach, she leaned across and placed her lips gently on his. He seemed to be in a state of shock at first but thankfully, he did kiss her back. She ran her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer to her.

Her hair turned vivaciously pink and in that moment, there was nothing in the world except the two of them, locked in their own moment of contentment.


	22. Chapter 22: Christmas

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Christmas**

_**A/N: It seems that I seem to apologise for late chapters a lot. I'm sorry, I'm in third year at uni and it's getting mega-hectic, not to mention that I'm working too and uh… yeah, pretty busy. Anyway, I am sorry but know that I'm working hard to get these updates out as soon as I physically can! Thank you so much to everyone still reading this and the support is just amazing! Thank you all so much :). Special thanks to my "Guest" reviewer who I couldn't PM to thank. **_

_Remus POV_

"Sirius really does like Christmas, doesn't he?" Dora commented as Sirius jumped around the house like a baby dragon, his arms filled with decorations whilst he sang well-known Christmas carols very loudly and very badly. If anyone had found the spirit of Christmas, it was definitely Sirius.

Christmas seemed to bring out a newfound sense of freedom for Sirius, as Remus remembered it had in his Hogwarts years when Sirius was able to stay at Hogwarts and avoid the perilous Black house. Yet, even situated within the house itself, his happiness and excitement seemed to flood every room and became infectious to everyone around him. Remus knew this also had something to do with his newly acquired company and having the kids around always seemed to bring out the best in Sirius.

"He really does," Remus replied. He looked towards Dora. She had fashioned her hair so that it ran down her back in festive green and red waves. He had laughed when she'd excitedly shown off her hair style that morning and the huge smile on her face seemed to radiate everywhere and even brought him a smile.

His burning desire for her though, rather than eventually wane and disappear, had in fact become stronger. It was so much stronger that he had to fight these irrational thoughts every time he saw her or even heard her voice. He had to remind himself that anything more than friendship was dangerous, dangerous territory. Anything more than what he already had with her was too much. Although they'd kissed, and he wouldn't deny they were some of the very best moments of his life, that's where it ended.

Unexpectedly, the morning excitement of Christmas Day itself seemed to fade very quickly in to non-existence. Remus walked in to the kitchen to find Molly in hysterics and Fred and George trying feebly to cheer her up.

"Percy's a git anyway, Mum," Remus heard Fred say and smiled slightly at the teenagers efforts at cheering her up.

"What happened, Molly?" Remus asked gently. As the twins spotted him, a look of relief seemed to wash over them and they quickly made their excuses and left.

"It's Percy – he – he – sent – his – jumper – back – no note – nothing," Molly spluttered out between tears. Remus put his arm around her.

"Percy just needs some time to find himself Molly. It's only a matter of time before he will realise his mistake."

"Do you think so?" Molly asked; her voice slightly less morose.

"Absolutely," Remus replied with conviction. He was more than positive that Percy would eventually come round; he just hoped it wouldn't be too late. Remus managed to hide it very well but he was actually furious with Percy. His mother was in hysterics and his father was seriously hurt in hospital and Percy wasn't there to witness the hurt he had caused them.

...

Later on in the day, Remus went to St. Mungo's to see Arthur along with Molly and the kids. Cade Ulrick – the werewolf Remus had met when visiting Arthur previously – was looking over towards Arthur and his visitors with an undeniable sadness in his eyes. Cade was a young man, perhaps in his late twenties, though Remus had never bothered to ask. Remus made his way over to Cade's bedside, where he intended to at least keep the boy company.

"Merry Christmas," Remus said slowly, taking a seat beside Cade's bed.

"No need to pity me, Lupin" the boy spat venomously, his pale green eyes screwing up in what would appear to be contempt. Remus did not react to Cade's supposed rage and he simply presented him with a small smile in return.

"You should know that I, of all people, would not pity you," Remus told him matter-of-factly and the young man's fury seemed to fade slightly, though his cheeks still flushed red from either anger or embarrassment – the cause being rather indistinguishable at the time.

"It's not great spending Christmas in hospital," Remus said conversationally, remembering a few times where he'd done the same, though it was usually the hospital wing at Hogwarts.

"It's not so bad. It would be just as terrible if I wasn't here as well," the young man said, a familiar cloud of resentment shrouding his eyes. "Sort of a side effect of being a werewolf eh? No-one wants anything to do with you anymore, like – like you never even existed," he added solemnly, letting only a fraction of sadness enter his voice.

"Not everyone, Cade," Remus told him and the young man scoffed irately.

"When were you bitten?" Cade suddenly asked him with a distinct curiosity. Remus sighed. It was a topic of conversation he admittedly avoided as much as humanly possible, yet he felt he should tell Cade, considering the circumstances.

"I was almost five when I was attacked and bitten by Fenrir Greyback. For the first decade or so, the transformations, were – were horrible, to say the least. Of course I never went near another human so I would attack myself at the full moon. Most – if not, all – my injuries are self-inflicted," Remus said, adding a small humourless laugh.

"I guess that explains it," Cade said brashly. Remus looked at him, awaiting an explanation.

"You don't really know your life before becoming what you are. That's why you can cope with it, because you have to, and have done your whole life. You don't know what it's like to not be a werewolf, to go to school, to make friends, to – to just be _normal_," Cade said, his voice breaking.

Remus stopped and thought about this. Of course, Cade was right. It was easier for Remus to cope because he'd _had_ to cope. He was so young that he barely knew what it was like to live a life that wasn't plagued constantly by Lycanthropy and everything that comes with it. To even think of a relationship with Dora, to change her life like that, would be the most selfish thing imaginable.

"I did go to Hogwarts actually," Remus told Cade quietly, ignoring his look of surprise as he continued. "Dumbledore made certain precautions in order that I could still attend. There, I met three great friends who accepted me even when they knew what I was. You're right though. I've never known what it's like to not be a werewolf – but my life didn't end the day I got bitten. It got much more difficult, yes, but it didn't end. You just need to make the most of it." Remus felt strange after sharing the details of his life with this boy he hardly knew. Yet somehow, he felt compelled to tell him, to make him understand what it's like to be a werewolf.

"Your friends were okay when they found out you were a werewolf!?" Cade asked incredulously and Remus suppressed a smile when he thought about them and everything they'd done for him.

"I was surprised too, but yes," Remus said.

"My friends don't seem to think the same," Cade said, the bitter sting of rejection clinging to his words.

"They might, in time. Give them a chance."

"Shouldn't you be getting back to who you're supposed to be visiting?" Cade asked hoarsely. Remus recognised the not-so-subtle hint that Cade wanted to be left alone now. Before he left, he reached in to his bag and handed Cade a large bar of chocolate from Honeydukes.

"Happy Christmas Cade," Remus said with a weary smile on his face.

"Uh, th-thanks," Cade said, his eyebrows furrowed together in surprise.

...

This Christmas ended up being a very strange one. It certainly didn't start well, and he couldn't say the visit to St. Mungo's had brightened his day any further. Yet they had an amazing meal cooked by Molly, they'd drunk Firewhiskey and Butterbeer until Christmas was over and Remus was _amazed_, amazed and overwhelmed, at having so many people around him on Christmas Day.

Christmas wasn't perfect. Arthur was in hospital, Percy wasn't there, Molly was upset and Harry seemed out-of-sorts too. Yet it was still one of the best Christmases Remus had had in over a decade.


End file.
